Let It Be Me
by Caught In A Simple Game
Summary: AU. Half-Sack's sister shows up one day in Charming, and Jax isn't happy about her decision to stay. As time wears on and the truth about her presence is revealed, Jax finds his head and his heart arguing over his rising concern for her well-being.
1. Chapter 1

The row of motorcycles lining the parking lot told her this had to be the place she was looking for. The town was anything but charming, despite its name, but if she got to stay, she might learn to love it.

She let out a deep breath as she parked the black Dodge Charger in an open space near a few other cars and turned off the engine. The door took a couple tries to open, but once it gave way, she set foot on the Teller-Morrow Automotive parking lot for the first time.

A pretty, older woman sat behind the desk in the front office, so she made her way there. The woman didn't even bother to look up when she entered, asking unenthusiastically if there was anything she could do to help the younger woman.

"I hope so," she answered. "I'm looking for my brother, Kip Epps."

The woman finally lifted her eyes. She gave the other woman a disbelieving glare. "You mean to tell me with that tan skin and brown hair, you're Half-Sack's sister?"

She choked back laughter at her brother's nickname. "Half-sister. Same dad, _way_ different moms. Is he around?"

She squinted her eyes. "Let me find out. What's your name?"

"Austin."

The other woman picked up the desk phone and punched a few keys. "Yeah, send Sack up here, would you? Tell him Austin's waiting."

Austin gave her a polite smile, then shoved her hands in the back pockets of her dark-washed jeans.

"You know if you're not really his sister, you just stepped into the devil's lair, right?"

Austin turned her head towards the woman behind the desk, ready to dish out a sarcastic rebuttal. Instead, she was swept off the ground and spun around.

"Aus! Why didn't you tell me you were coming? God, I haven't seen you in ages."

Austin hugged her brother fiercely. It was true; it had been more than a year since they had seen each other. Half-Sack set her down and turned to the desk.

"Sorry, Gemma. This is my sister. Austin, this is Gemma. She runs things around here."

Gemma scoffed and sat back down. "Don't let Clay hear you say that. Austin, what brings you to Charming?"

Austin glanced at her brother. "Well, I just hadn't seen Kip in a while, so I wanted to surprise him."

Gemma didn't seem quite convinced, but let the sibling pair walk outside without any more questions. Heading from the office to the garage, they were able to continue the conversation in private.

"All right, Aus. Out with it."

Austin sighed. She'd never been able to hide anything from him. "I'm sorry to just show up like this. Mom kind of gave up on me and put me out of the house. You know I can't go to Dad. You're the only place left."

Sack sighed. "I don't know how much I can really help you. I'm staying in the clubhouse right now; I work here and do stuff for the MC. It's slow right now, but if things picked back up for any reason ..."

"I get it. Don't worry, okay? I shouldn't have sprung this on you so spur of the moment."

"Hey, Prospect!" an older, burly looking man bellowed from the garage. "You gonna introduce us to that sweet butt?"

Austin lips formed a thin line on her face, and she made to approach the man, giving him a good piece of her mind. Sack stopped her though, begging her to keep it quiet.

"The Clay that Gemma mentioned? That's him."

"That wasn't really a question," Tig added from next to Clay.

Sack groaned and grabbed for his sister's hand. He dragged her into the garage, standing her right in front of Clay.

"This is my half-sister, Austin. She didn't really get my set-up here and needed a place to land for a while. She'll figure it out though."

"Unless you need another mechanic," Austin piped up.

"Austin," Sack admonished under his breath.

Clay held up a hand. "Wait, this could be interesting. Mechanic?"

Austin nodded. "I know more than Kip does. My stepdad owned a garage for a long time."

"Interesting. What's the firing order for that Charger you're driving?"

She shot back the numbers at him without hesitation and almost before he finished the question. Clay raised his brow, impressed at the ease with which she had relayed the correct answer. "Listen, darlin', why don't you go back to the office for a couple minutes, while I confer with my guys?"

Austin nodded, slipping the aviator sunglasses back over her eyes. She pulled down the white wife-beater tank top she was wearing and tried not to stomp too hard across the cement with her brown boots. She hid her excitement perfectly well, hoping it would gain her some extra points.

.:.

Jax was working on a simple tune-up when Clay called for everyone to gather. He had seen the girl they had all been talking to, but was too lost in his work to listen to the conversation. He watched her walk away as he wiped his greasy hands on a rag and joined Clay and the others. Something sparked up in him, and he immediately took it for dislike. Something about that girl rubbed him the wrong way already.

"She's not lying. She's an excellent mechanic. She would free up a lot of time for us to take care of other business," Sack was explaining. "But she has a temper. Not like Gemma who will put you in your place – Austin is more likely to haul off and slug you one and do the talking later."

Clay thought that over. "She would be around MC business a lot. You'd have to explain to her the way things work."

"I think if we bring in a girl, we're bringing in drama," Jax spoke up. "None of them come baggage-free."

"Nah, my sister's a good girl," Sack answered. "Well, I mean she isn't about the dramatic type."

"So she's not a good girl?" Tig joked, every single implication he was trying to make sent over in the wink he gave Sack.

Sack rolled his eyes. "She's just not like typical girls, all right?"

"I vote no," Jax said sternly. "It's going to cause trouble."

Clay looked at his stepson. "I didn't bring you all over here to vote on it – it's not official club business. We could use the extra hands around here. She can stay in the clubhouse as long as she stays out of the MC's way."

Jax picked up the wrench he had set down and stormed back to his task. Why did Clay bother to ask for input if he had already made a decision anyway? He couldn't think of one time a girl hadn't caused problems for the Club at one point or another.

"Look, she's working here, she's Sack's sister. She's family and has protection," Clay said, breaking into Jax's thoughts.

"He's not even patched in and we're taking in his family?" Jax argued.

Clay held up a hand. "She's a woman and until she shows us she's anything but a good woman, we aren't going to leave her on the streets. Sack's in deep enough for us to help out his family. I don't want any shit on this."

"Dude, whatever," Jax replied.

.:.

Austin dropped her bag on the bed in the dorm room and let out a deep breath. It certainly wasn't the Four Seasons, but it was better than being on the street.

"You need anything?" Sack asked, knocking on the doorframe.

She shook her head. "I think I'm okay, for now."

"All right. Clay said you can start tomorrow morning. Gemma's going to have a TM shirt for you in the morning." He rubbed his chin and took a seat on the bed. "Listen, Austin, there's some things I need to tell you. I need to explain to you how things work around here."

"What do you mean? Tune ups, break jobs, alignments, occasional transmission work. It's a garage, I got it."

"No, that's not what I mean. The MC has strong roots in Charming, and it's deeper than you may think. Some things that happen around here are on a need to know basis, and you can't ask questions."

Austin rolled her eyes, pulling clothes out of her duffel to start putting away in the dresser. "You've gotten downright dramatic since you came out here, Kip."

He put a hand on her arm to stop her and gain her full attention. "You don't understand, Aus. I'm not being dramatic. You don't ask questions, and you do what you're told. Or you're out."

Just the same way he had known Austin wasn't just here because she hadn't seen her brother in a while, Austin knew that Sack was serious.

"Fine," she shrugged. "No questions, I get it. I can't promise not to, you know, be myself though."

"Don't worry," Sack chuckled, lifting himself off the bed. "I already warned them about that."

She got herself a fast food dinner after everything was put away and a few pictures made the place feel a little bit like home. A few of the guys were lingering around the clubhouse, so she made herself scarce. When she had been formally introduced to all of them, they all were polite enough, except for maybe Jax Teller. She wasn't sure what to make of him or what she'd done already to earn his glares, but Chibs had leaned over and told her not to worry about "moody ole Jackie-boy." This earned Chibs a smile; Austin liked him immediately.

After she ate, she decided maybe she would take a shower. She grabbed the couple of towels she'd brought with her and headed for the bathroom Sack had pointed out earlier. The confidence she usually felt was slightly diminished, a fact she attributed to recent events back home in Carolina and her strange new surroundings. Just before Austin reached the bathroom, the door of one of the other dorm rooms swung open, causing her to jump back against the wall.

"Relax," Jax said, frowning. "I was just trying to figure out who was out here. For how confident Sack said you are, I wouldn't have expected you to be so jumpy."

Austin glared. "Maybe you shouldn't sneak up on people, then they wouldn't jump."

"I wasn't sneaking up on you; I just opened the damn door. Watch out, I'm going to shut it now. Don't get too scared."

Austin made to charge at him, but the door shut in her face before she could say or do anything in retaliation. Taking a deep breath and chiding herself for being so paranoid, she continued on to the shower.

The warm water was soothing as it streamed over her sore muscles. She had already been uncomfortable when she left home, but two days in the car hadn't helped. She didn't stop to enjoy the steam rising around her for very long before she soaped up and washed her hair. She turned off the faucet and went to step out of the stall when something stopped her. Closing her eyes and stepping back in, she started the water again, repeating the soaping up and hair washing three more times before turning the water off for good.

.:.

Jax's mood hadn't improved by the next morning. If anything else it had gotten worse. The walls in the clubhouse were much too thin. He'd heard the two showers she took back to back, heard her getting ready for bed, and heard her cry herself to sleep.

It occurred to him to either ask her to tone it down or to ask her what was wrong, but he couldn't make himself do either. All he wanted to do was pretend like Austin Epps didn't exist and if he had to see her, he'd make sure it was far, far out of his way.

"She do okay last night?" Sack asked when Jax came out to the garage.

Jax shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?"

"You were here, too, last night. You didn't talk to her?"

"Listen, Prospect. I think you're all right, but there's something about your sister that my gut tells me isn't good. Maybe it's just a weird vibe thing, but she's not going to be my best friend or anything. Something happens to her and the club moves to take care of it, I'm there, no questions asked. In the meantime though, I'm not your sister's keeper."

Sack nodded. "Yeah, all right. My fault for asking."

Austin came out of the clubhouse then, followed by Gemma who had just delivered the girl's work shirt. Otherwise she was in the same get up she'd been in the day before – dark jeans, brown boots, and a white wife-beater. Jax rolled his eyes and walked up to approach her while everyone else was busy.

"Look, I don't know what brought you here, or what your deal was last night, but maybe next time you could leave some hot water for the rest of us. Oh, and keep it down when I'm trying to sleep. Those walls are thinner than you think," Jax snarled.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't know what the hell I did to piss you off, but I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. I'll be more conscious about living in the same place as you, but keep whatever shit you have with me to yourself. I'm not going to walk on eggshells just because you don't like it that I'm here."

With that, she stalked past him into the garage to get an assignment from Clay. Sack sauntered over to Jax and shook his head.

"I'm surprised all you got was that," Sack said. "I mean, I get your standing, but she doesn't. And Austin, she had it rough growing up. Her mom was my dad's mistress, a stripper from the other side of the tracks. I didn't even find out about her until we were in high school. She had to learn to take care of herself, so she doesn't take shit from anyone. She'll find her footing here, but you have to give her time to do that."

Jax nodded. "Fine. I'll stay out of her way and she can stay out of mine."

"Fair enough," Sack replied, holding his hands up in surrender. He started to walk away, but Jax sighed and called him back.

"She cried herself to sleep tonight. I didn't ask her about it, and I'm not going to mention it to anyone else."

Sack nodded. "I'll look into it. Thanks."

Jax rolled his eyes, not even sure why he had bothered to share that small bit of information. Maybe if Sack could figure out what was wrong, he wouldn't have to worry about losing sleep for another night. In the meantime, he'd do just as he'd said he would. Jax would steer clear of Austin so long as she steered clear of him.

**A/N: I'm new to both SoA and SoA fanfiction, so I hope I can do fair justice to the show with this story! Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read.**


	2. Chapter 2

After that first night, Austin made sure to keep her crying to a minimum. She took her showers as quickly as she could, but still had to wash several times before she could get out. Mostly she did her work and made sure to stay out of Jax Teller's way.

Half-Sack waited a couple of weeks before pressing his sister about what Jax had heard the night she arrived. He didn't want to push her to leave right after she got there, and certainly didn't want to piss her off right away. Jax didn't make any more complaints, but knowing that his sister didn't cry unless she was upset beyond what she knew how to deal with, he knew he had to ask her about it.

"Hey, Aus," he called when the garage closed down for the day. "What are you doing for supper?"

Austin shrugged. "Not sure yet."

"Why don't I take you out? We haven't spent much time together since you got here. Let's just go grab a bite."

"All right. Let me get cleaned up and I'll see you in about an hour."

Assuming her brother was taking her somewhere that wasn't a fast-food chain, Austin decided against her usual get-up and opted for a jean skirt, black v-neck t-shirt and flip flops. Instead of pulling her hair into a messy bun, she left it down in its natural waves. She applied light eye makeup and checked her appearance in the mirror before walking out to the main room to wait for Kip.

"Oh, Aussie-girl, look at you," Chibs teased. "Never thought we'd get to see you in anything but car grease."

Austin laughed. "I know it's easy to forget but I _am _a girl, thank you very much."

"And a pretty one at that," Chibs smiled, kissing her cheek. "You've got a date?"

"Just with my brother," Austin shrugged. "Had to have some excuse to get out of those jeans and boots."

She pushed herself up on a stool and watched as Chibs, Tig, and Bobby continued their pool game. The three men bantered back and forth with her as the game went on. She heard several motorcycles ride up outside and, assuming one of them was her brother, went out to meet him.

"Damn, Austin. You clean up nice," Opie complimented. "Nice to see you in something other than car grease."

Austin laughed. "Funny, Chibs said something along the same lines."

"You ready to go?" Half-Sack asked, climbing off his bike.

"Ready," Austin confirmed. She handed him the keys to the Charger – no way she was getting on the back of a bike in that skirt – and watched Jax and the buxom redhead he had his arm around as they passed by her. She couldn't help but notice how Jax was trying not to look at her from his peripheral vision. They made eye contact briefly, before he whispered something in the redhead's ear and she giggled, pulling him in for a kiss. Austin rolled her eyes. It probably wasn't going to be a quiet night in the clubhouse, and this time it wasn't going to be her fault.

Half-Sack drove them to a nice Italian place not too far out of Charming. They were seated in a booth, and the waitress took their drink orders before promising to come back for their food orders.

"So are you settling in all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, everyone's pretty nice. Well, almost everyone," she said, thinking of Jax. "But really, I like it here. I didn't think I would, but I do. I like TM and I think I've done okay staying out of the MC's way."

Sack nodded. "Yeah, actually Clay mentioned something about that the other day. Thanks for that, it helps me out, actually."

"Good," Austin nodded as she read over the menu.

He took a deep breath. "I wanted you to get settled in a little more before I asked about this, but Jax said that you cried yourself to sleep your first night here. Maybe it's not that big of a deal, except the Austin I know doesn't cry for any reason."

Austin rolled her eyes. "You're going to believe anything Jax says about me? He's probably just trying to get me ousted."

"Austin, you don't have to cover up with me. I'm your brother and I've never treated you as anything different or less. You're right, Jax probably would be happier if you weren't here, but I know him well enough to tell you he wasn't lying. I also know you well enough to know you're avoiding the question."

She ran a hand through her hair and looked around. The restaurant was nearly empty except for them and a few other occupied tables, but no one seemed to be within earshot. She waited for the waitress to come back and take their food orders, and then took a deep breath and told him the whole story.

By the time they finished their food and got back to the clubhouse, Austin was ready to just fall into bed and forget about everything she had to tell her brother. Kip was pissed – not at her, but at her mother for allowing it to happen. She couldn't blame him, but Austin had already had a lot of bitterness towards her mother, and this was just one more thing to fuel the fire.

"Look," she said as Sack mounted his bike. "I'm out of there. It isn't going to happen again, and now you can keep an eye on me anyway. Right?"

Sack gave the hint of a smile. "Right. Get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Austin waved as he rode out of the lot. She took a deep breath and walked into the clubhouse, wincing when the first thing she heard was the moaning and groaning of Jax's … extra-curricular activities with the redhead. She rolled her eyes and went to her room where she discovered just how paper thin the walls actually were.

She changed for bed and laid down, but the noises weren't stopping. After another twenty minutes, she tried putting her head under the pillow but that didn't even take the edge off. All Austin wanted to do was sleep, but apparently that wasn't going to happen as long as Jax's little friend was there.

She told herself not to get upset. She told herself to count backwards from one hundred. That took her another few minutes, then she did it again. After another twenty minutes of counting, the sounds were still going strong.

"Don't they ever even stop to take a breath," she grumbled as she threw the covers back and climbed out of the bed. She swung her door open and saw the redhead's clothes all trailing up to Jax's room. Another roll of her eyes as she gathered the clothes up. She had every intention of dragging that little hussy out of the clubhouse, just for a little peace and quiet. The noises stopped just for a second, so Austin paused to see what would happen.

The redhead walked a few steps into the hallway in the direction of the bathroom, but caught on to Austin's presence. "What the hell do you think you're doing with my clothes?"

Austin held the clothes in one arm and grabbed the girl's hair with her free hand. "I don't need you, your clothes, your noise or your pussy stink in the place that I'm living."

"Let go of me!" the redhead demanded, but Austin wasn't letting up.

They reached the clubhouse door, and Austin threw the clothes out to the lot first before shoving the naked girl out. She slammed the door and locked it, then stormed back to her room. Jax had put his jeans back on and stood against the doorframe with a look on his face that read somewhere between pissed off and amused.

"What?" Austin demanded.

"That was quite a display," Jax said.

"Sorry for ruining your fun, but I need to get some sleep."

Jax shrugged. "Whatever. She wasn't that good of a lay anyway."

With that he turned back into his room, shutting the door behind him. Austin shut her door as well, feeling somewhat relieved at the quiet that now reigned throughout the building.

.:.

Jax watched her all throughout the next day, waiting for her to say something to someone about what had happened the night before. She went about her work mostly in silence, though, only answering when someone first spoke to her. She didn't even look like she was in a bad mood. It was as if the whole thing never happened.

He didn't get it. Any other girl, even his mother, would have made sure that someone else knew she had thrown some bitch out of the clubhouse. Austin though, seemed to just handle it and be done. Perhaps there had been more truth than he thought when Half-Sack told him Austin had learned to take care of herself.

He still didn't want to have anything to do with her, but the previous night made him believe that maybe she wasn't going to bring in drama like he thought. He supposed he could at least tolerate her.

_As long as you don't have to look at her in that skirt again, _his mind told him. Of course then images flooded his mind, and he put down the muffler he was working on to give himself a moment to work past his flustered state. All right, so maybe she was cute. But that was it, nothing more. And he still had a feeling about her.

"You all right?" Opie asked.

Jax nodded and picked the muffler back up. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Opie glanced in the direction his friend had just been looking and smirked. "Something you want to talk about?"

"Oh, please," Jax said. "Just trying to figure her out, that's all."

Opie nodded. "All right. Let's set this muffler then."

"Fine."

After church that night, Clay asked Jax to stay back for a minute. Jax was ready for a beer, but stayed behind without much attitude.

"You talk to Austin much?"

Jax shook his head. "No, I try to avoid her really. You know how I feel about the situation."

"Damn, you two are living in the same place and you don't interact at all?"

"Not much."

Clay nodded. "You want to tell me about the redhead who went yelling to Gemma today about being thrown out of the clubhouse with nothing but the skin on her back?"

Jax couldn't help but chuckle. "Apparently we were being a little too loud. Austin caught the girl by her hair and threw her and her clothes out on the lot, and locked the door behind her."

"Oh shit," Clay said, shaking his head and unable to stop the laughter. "She is a little spitfire. She keeps up with the guys and their shit like it's nothing. I think there might be something else that's got her here, though."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you all," Jax replied in exasperation. Finally someone was on his side. "Sack says she can take care of herself and by her not telling anyone about last night, I believe she isn't about the drama. But you don't move across the country and stay just because you haven't seen your brother in a while."

"Yeah, I thought at first that maybe she just needed a change of scenery, but now Sack's requesting to be gone for a week or so while he takes care of things back home."

"Maybe he's trying to set it up for her to go back."

"I don't know," Clay shrugged. "He seems pissed off, you know."

Jax frowned. "Well, did he say why he wanted to go?"

"Said it was outside of the club and that he preferred not to get into it."

"He can't give us a reason, he can't go," Jax replied. "He'll dig us into trouble over his sister, and we can't put eyes on the MC like that."

Clay nodded. "All right. He waits then. Look, we've got a couple new guys who want to prospect, Bobby's bringing them in tomorrow night. We'll take a vote afterwards and if they're in, we'll do it in a couple weeks, give us time to get the cuts going and all."

Jax shared a man-hug with his stepfather then stepped out of the room. Austin was out there with the guys, drinking a beer and generally just shooting the shit. She had showered so her hair was down again. She had on a clean tank top and jeans, again with her flip flops.

_Maybe it wasn't the skirt_, his mind said. Rolling his eyes and ignoring anymore thoughts that included Austin, Jax ordered up a beer from Half-Sack and sauntered over to the pool table.

.:.

The next night, Austin was coming in from a late tune-up Clay had asked her to do when the men were exiting the chapel. Two younger men were with them; one of them looked vaguely familiar.

"Kip," she said, nudging her brother who stood behind the bar. "Who are those guys?"

"New prospects. They just got voted in."

She nodded. "Do you know their names?"

"No, no one's said anything to me yet. Why?"

"Just curious I guess. I'll be in my room, if anyone needs me."

Kip nodded and watched her as she walked briskly back to her room, head down and facing away from the men.

"What's with her?" Bobby asked.

Kip shrugged. "I don't know. She asked about the new prospects, then hurried off to her room."

"She's probably worried that she won't have a place once they come in. I'll talk to her tomorrow. You weren't kidding about her mechanic skills, and she's too good for Clay to send her anywhere else."

"Thanks, Bob."

"Get me a couple beers, we'll call it good."

He pulled the longnecks from under the counter and set them in front of Bobby. He wasn't exactly sure that a play to stay was Austin's biggest worry about the new prospects, but last time he had asked about her strange behavior, he'd gotten an answer he certainly didn't want to hear. Maybe this time he would wait and let her come to him.

**.:..:.**

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews so far. The story alerts were also more than I expected! I'm still sort of finding my footing on this one, so it may start slow, but everything will be revealed in due time. Thanks again for reading. **


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Jax," Opie called from the next garage stall over. "You've got company, I think. And she don't look too happy either."

Jax looked up to see Nikki, the redhead, stomping across the lot in his direction. He shook his head and cursed under his breath before wiping his hands off with a nearby rag and walking out to meet her.

"What the hell, Jax?" Nikki demanded. "That little bitch threw me out three days ago and I haven't heard from you since."

"Your point?"

"So what, you're fucking her now? Is that what's going on? I tried going to Gemma but seems she doesn't want to have anything to do with this one."

Jax rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "That's because Gemma doesn't deal with crow eaters."

Nikki's eyes grew wide with anger. "Crow eater? You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"Not in the least. If I wanted to talk to you Nikki, I would have gotten a hold of you. You've been around long enough to know how this works. Now, how about you decide to act like a lady and get the hell out of here with what dignity you have left."

She stomped her foot, but turned to go just the same. 'Crow eater' was something even Nikki knew meant the end of the line. And, after her little display, it was unlikely that any Son would ever go near her again. Best to do as Jax said and leave with the little dignity she still possessed.

Jax shook his head again and turned around, immediately catching eye contact with Austin. She was standing just outside of the garage, seemingly keeping tabs on the situation. She turned her gaze to the ground and casually turned back to her work. Jax thought for a moment he saw a look of remorse on her face.

.:.

After the workday was through, Austin headed for the TM office. She didn't even feel like taking a drive at the moment, but she wasn't ready to go to the clubhouse until Jax was out for a while. She'd let her anger get the best of her when she threw that bimbo out of the clubhouse, and now that the girl had come back demanding answers from Jax, Austin was sure she was in for it.

As far as she knew, Jax hadn't mentioned the incident to anyone. She was grateful for that; no doubt Kip would have her ass for causing a scene, even if really no one was there to witness it. Although she supposed she had a hand in the scene on the lot earlier that day.

Telling Kip what had happened in Carolina had taken the edge off, but all of her anger was going to come to a head soon, she could tell. Maybe it was better to find an outlet soon to get it out of her system so she wouldn't be so irritable. Granted, she'd always had some anger issues, but nothing that had felt to unmanageable.

"What are you doing in here?" Gemma asked, walking into the office.

Austin stood up from the chair next to the desk and apologized. "Just needed some quiet and wasn't sure the clubhouse could provide that. Didn't feel like driving. I'll get out of your way."

Gemma put a hand on Austin's shoulder before she could get out the door. "Have a seat."

Sighing and figuring she was really in for it, Austin did as she was told. Gemma took a seat in her usual chair and eyed Austin briefly before speaking.

"Jax's little crow eater friend, Nikki, came to me the other day, pretty upset about some brunette who threw her naked out of the clubhouse. I'm assuming that wasn't another girl in his harem."

Austin cleared her throat and shook her in the negative. "No, it wasn't."

The hint of a smile appeared across Gemma's lips. "Good for you."

"Excuse me?" Austin asked, not sure she had heard correctly. She hadn't had much dealing with Gemma thus far, but assumed the Queen didn't really want anything to do with her. Austin had assumed Gemma was indifferent towards her because she was only connected to the MC through blood and a technicality.

"I know you're in a weird in-between around here," Gemma told her. "You're connected to the club through Half-Sack, you work here, but you're not really part of it. Still, you have to put up with a lot of shit because of this club. From what I hear, you do a good job keeping your mouth shut, you don't ask questions, and generally stay out of the way. Chances are Jax was going to have a harder time getting rid of that bitch if you hadn't done what you did, and I see that as looking out for my guys. I have a lot of respect, Austin, for people who figure out their place in the scheme of things fast and don't try to go out of that position."

"Thanks," Austin answered hesitantly.

Gemma gave a single nod. "I need to lock up here. Go get yourself cleaned up and come join me and Clay for supper, all right?"

Austin nodded and thanked her without much of a show of emotion. As she walked to the clubhouse, however, she couldn't help but let a smile stretch across her face. For right now, anyway, she had the Queen of the Sons on her side.

She was shoving her driver's license and a small bit of cash in her pockets when the same smell of men's soap that had hung in the air while she showered wafted to her nose from the doorframe.

"Need something?" Austin asked Jax.

He shook his head. "Gemma called. Said she invited you for dinner and forgot to give you an address or directions. I'm headed that way, figured I'd offer you a ride."

She raised her brow at him. "I can just follow you in the Charger."

"We're leaving from the same place, going to the same place," he answered. "Unless you're afraid to be on the back of the bike."

She groaned internally. Could he ever hold a conversation without sarcasm? "Fear is not the problem."

"Sure about that?"

"Maybe I just don't want the entire town of Charming to think that I'm yet another crow eater, kneeling down and the …" She let her eyes wonder from his just south of his waist and back again, "… feet of Jax Teller."

He rolled his eyes. "You're the last girl I'd be interested in, Austin. Besides, Sack would personally kill me if anything happened to you regardless of rank. You're connected to the MC and things are a little shaky right now."

_Don't ask questions, _Austin reminded herself. She took a deep breath. "Fine. I'll ride with you, but only because you put it that way."

Jax walked out in front of her, handing her an extra helmet. Austin buckled it under her chin and threw one leg over the bike, taking a seat behind Jax.

"You ever been on one of these?" Jax called over the roar of the motorcyle's engine.

Austin shook her head. "Nope."

"All right. Hold on, and try not to wiggle too much."

Austin simply nodded and placed her hands at his sides as he walked the bike in reverse and then took off out of the lot. She had seen him leave plenty of times before and figured that his relatively slow start was for her sake. Once they were into traffic, he sped up; instinctively, she leaned a little closer to him and moved her hands forward.

"Too fast?"

"No."

He maintained that speed for the rest of the ride. Austin had to admit she actually enjoyed it – she hadn't experienced that combination of wind and speed before, with cars rushing right past them. It was a small adrenaline rush, and that was something she really loved.

Jax coasted them into Gemma and Clay's driveway, next to Clay's bike. He turned off the ignition and helped her off the backseat. She fiddled with the buckle under her chin, but had some trouble undoing the strap.

"Here, let me," Jax offered. He hung his own helmet on the handlebars, then reached under her chin with gentle hands to undo the buckle. He had to lean in to see what was catching between the strap and the buckle, and it made Austin all too aware of that soapy smell that seemed to still be accompanying him. It was intoxicating, quite frankly. She tried to keep her eyes anywhere but on his face, although even that seemed suddenly difficult.

The pressure under her chin let up and Jax lifted the helmet from her head, setting it on the seat she had just occupied.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"Yep," he replied, leading her into the house. "Mom, we're here."

Clay appeared first, slightly shocked to see Austin and Jax arriving together. "Look who's here together and not at each other's throats."

"Very funny," Jax replied, hugging his stepfather. "Is Mom around?"

"Of course. She's in the kitchen, finishing up with the food."

"I'll see if she needs help," Jax said, excusing himself from the room.

Clay looked to Austin. "I'm glad you came by, Aus. Both Jax and Gemma have regaled me with tales of you playing bouncer at the clubhouse the other night."

He motioned for her to take a seat on the couch, and she grimaced as she sat. "Yeah, I'm not sure I'll ever live that one down."

"I guess if any of us need to get rid of a girl, Gemma's not the only one who can handle it now," Clay teased. "Everything else is going all right? My stepson hasn't run you off just yet?"

"Not yet," Austin shook her head. "We're learning to tolerate each other."

"Good. You're an asset to the garage, and I think Half-Sack likes having his sister around. You need anything, you just let us know, all right?"

Austin nodded. "Thanks, I will. I know you did a lot already, giving me the job and place to land."

"You're family, and SAMCRO takes care of family. You've only been here for a few weeks, but you'll get to see that the longer you're around."

Gemma called them to the table then, and they didn't wait to oblige her. Austin took a seat next to Gemma, and looked at everything spread out.

"Sure it's just the four of us?" Austin joked.

"We eat a lot of leftovers," Gemma answered. "And I'll send some with you to the clubhouse, too. I can't imagine you get much home cooking over there."

Austin shook her head. "That's true, I don't."

"You think about looking for a more permanent place yet?" Jax asked.

Austin looked at him but didn't sense a trace of malice, so she just shrugged. "I entertained the idea. I'd like to get my feet on the ground a little firmer before I leave the clubhouse though."

"No worries, baby," Gemma told her. "You stick around there as long as you need to."

"And if you need help finding a decent neighborhood, let us know. We'll get you covered," Clay added.

The conversation from there was scarce. The time was mostly filled with the clanging of silverware against plates and mouths chewing. Austin ate more than any of them would have thought her petite frame could handle, but told Gemma she was more than likely going to have to wait a couple of days before digging into those leftovers. She helped Gemma clean up the table and was gathering the few containers Gemma was sending back with her when Clay walked into the kitchen, Jax on his heels.

"I'm sorry, babe, we've got to run out real quick. Apparently there was a scuffle down at the pub involving a couple of our guys and some Mayans," Clay told Gemma, putting an arm around her waist and kissing her quickly.

"All right, be careful. Jax, you going with him?"

"Yeah," Jax said, kissing her on the cheek then looking at Austin. "I'll be back to get you."

"I can take her back to the clubhouse," Gemma offered.

"Stay here, both of you." Clay ordered. "Sounds like a small thing, but I'd rather be on the safe side until we know for sure."

They were out the door and on their way before Gemma or Austin could get another word in. Austin looked at Gemma who just shrugged.

"That's how it goes. Coffee?"

"Sure," Austin agreed. "I better not ask, right?"

Gemma looked at her for a moment before shrugging. "What do you want to know?"

"Nothing too detailed. I hear stuff about the Mayans a lot, but I don't really know who they are or what they're about. Or why the MC doesn't like them."

"Fair enough. Let me get this coffee going and we'll sit down and talk. I'll tell you what you need to know – enough so you can look out for yourself, but not enough to get you in trouble."

Austin wasn't aware she had fallen asleep until she heard Gemma calling her name from the front door. She startled awake and shrugged off the throw that covered her arms.

"They're back," Gemma informed her. "Jax is waiting out front for you."

"All right," she said with a yawn. "Thanks again for supper."

"You're welcome. Don't worry about the leftovers tonight, I'll bring them tomorrow."

Austin nodded as she hugged the older woman. She met Clay at the porch, thanking him, too. He told her it wasn't a problem and walked with her halfway down the sidewalk.

"We didn't want to upset Gemma because it isn't a huge deal," Clay told her. "It wasn't just a little scuffle. It was a big brawl. Jax got in the middle of it and he's got a cut on chest."

Austin frowned. "Is he all right to ride back to the clubhouse?"

"Yeah, yeah. It isn't too serious, but if you'll just take a look at it when you get back."

"I don't know any medical stuff, Clay."

"There's a first aid kit under the counter. Just patch him up, make sure it doesn't get infected."

"All right, I can do that."

She walked out to where Jax was waiting, taking the helmet from him and securing it once again under her chin. He back slowly out of the drive and coasted to the end of the street, not saying a single word the whole ride.

**.:..:.**

**A/N: I forgot to mention at the end of the last chapter that I'm trying to jump around between calling him Kip and Half-Sack/Sack too much, but trying to handle it depending on the situation. Obviously Austin is used to calling him Kip, while everyone else mostly knows him as Half-Sack/Sack, but I don't want to make it too confusing. **

**Thanks for reading. **


	4. Chapter 4

Clay had warned him to let Austin patch up the gash on his chest, but Jax was reluctant to do it. He wanted to believe he could do it himself, but just washing the mess off was more than his already stiffening muscles could handle. He threw the warm washcloth into the sink and went to go ask for her help, only to find that she was already leaning in the doorframe.

"Now who's sneaking up on people?"

Austin smirked. "Was just seeing how long your stubbornness was going to last before you let me help you. Sit on the stool there, I'll go get the first aid kit."

Letting out a deep breath, Jax did as she said. She returned moments later and opened the box, reviewing over the supplies. She turned the warm water back on and wet down the washcloth again, gently cleaning the blood that had dripped from the cut just a couple inches under his collarbone down his pectoral muscle and onto his abdomen.

"Clay made it sound like maybe you just had a scrape. This is more serious than I thought," she commented.

"Yeah, well. He probably didn't want to spook you out of cleaning it."

Austin took a deep breath. "I know I'm not supposed to ask questions –"

"Then don't."

"—but earlier you said that things were shaky for the club, and then whatever happened tonight with the Mayans happened. All I want to know is if I should be worried about my brother. Well, more worried than I usually am."

"Right, what I said earlier about things being shaky," he said, mischievous smirk on his face. "That wasn't exactly true. I just kind of wanted to win the argument."

Austin looked like she might punch him right on that fresh cut on his chest. "So if that was a lie then I don't have to be that worried, then?"

Jax didn't say anything. He certainly wasn't going to explain to her what had happened, and there wasn't any other way to assure her about Half-Sack's safety or lack thereof. Once the wound was clean, she dug around for the antibiotic ointment and spread a thin layer over the cut and the area around it.

"Your hands are shaking," he noted out loud.

"Yeah."

"You on something? Or off something, and that's the problem?"

"Nope."

He believed her, so he didn't ask what else would be the matter. She found a square of gauze and used the medical tape to secure it over the cut.

"I appreciate you doing this. Clay said Gemma's been more stressed than usual lately, so he's trying to not worry her unless it's necessary."

"You're welcome. It should be all right for tonight. We'll check it again in the morning," she told him, closing the box and leaving to return it to its spot under the counter.

Jax pulled his shirt over his head and followed her out to the main room. "Why did you come to Charming?"

She shrugged. "Kip."

Jax shook his head. "That's not enough. Why did you come here to find Kip without calling or writing or anything like that?"

"I didn't want to be in Carolina anymore."

"Why did Kip ask to take off for a week to go out there when you're here now?"

Austin licked her lips before answering. "Take care of some family shit, I guess."

"Same family shit that brought you out here?"

She rolled her eyes. "Good God, you don't give up, do you? If Kip wants to go back to Carolina, it's of his own accord, and it isn't my influence or decision. I came out here because Carolina got shitty and I wanted a new start. If you want me gone so bad, all you have to do is say so and I'll find that new start somewhere else."

"Why can't you give anyone some straight answers?" Jax demanded.

Austin narrowed her eyes. "I don't ask any questions about your stupid MC bullshit, so how about you just butt the hell out of my business?"

She made to storm past him, no doubt her intent to retreat to her room and slam the door, but Jax caught her by both arms. His grip wasn't enough to hurt her but it certainly wasn't the softest of holds, either. She was close enough that her perfume invaded his nose and weakened his senses. He was reaching a point where he couldn't figure this girl out. He didn't want to be around her, but he couldn't help himself to entertain certain thoughts when she was in that short denim skirt or let her wavy hair hang down to her waist.

In that brief moment of vulnerability, Jax let his forehead fall against hers. Austin stayed where she was, and he watched her eyes close and listened as her breath quickened in anticipation. Jax leaned down just slightly to move his mouth closer to hers, and reality struck him. This was Austin, the girl who was still keeping secrets and who he had never wanted here in the first place.

Slowly, he let his hands fall from her arms and took a couple steps back. "Sorry."

Austin opened her eyes and let out a breath. "Do I owe the Sons answers about why I'm here?"

"Not really," Jax answered. "Until it starts affecting the club negatively."

"Fine. Then I'd appreciate not having to hear about it anymore unless that point comes."

"Fine."

Austin nodded once more before following her previous intention and retreating to her room, although she didn't slam the door like he'd thought she would.

Jax ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't believe he'd almost kissed her – or that she was about to let him kiss her. There was already tension between the two of them, he figured, and this was just going to add another kind of tension. No getting around that.

.:.

The day before the new prospects were going to be officially announced as prospects, two of them came by the clubhouse to speak with Clay. The one Austin thought she recognized was there, and she couldn't help but stare at him from where she stood serving drinks behind the bar.

"Austin," Kip said, waving a hand in front of her face. "What's up? Are you all wet for that new guy or something?"

She gave him the same look any sister would give her annoying older brother. "No. He just looks familiar is all."

"Name's Dougie Stern, if that helps."

Austin's mouth formed into an 'o' as realization washed over her. That _certainly _helped. She wished with all her heart just then that she was Gemma Teller-Morrow so that she could have some sort of influence over who was brought into the club and who wasn't. Wait; maybe she didn't have to be Gemma. Maybe she just needed Gemma to put the word in for her. That, however, would require telling Gemma what had happened and she couldn't bring herself to do that. Asking to have a prospect removed from the charter for personal reasons seemed like a negative impact to her, and she wasn't about to put everything out there for the MC to know. So, she clamped her mouth shut and told herself to deal with it.

Kip frowned. "Something wrong?"

"What? Oh. No, sorry. Do you want a beer?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm good. Actually need to get going. I'll see you tomorrow night."

Austin waited for Kip to leave, then walked out to the office, looking for Gemma.

"Austin? Everything all right?"

"Yeah, I just needed to ask you a question."

Gemma sat down her paperwork and laid her glasses on the desk. "Go ahead."

"If I was in the market for a gun … something small but effective … would you have any suggestions on where I could find something like that for a decent price? And maybe without the cops knowing?"

"Sweetheart," Gemma started, leaning back in her chair. "Why would you need a gun?"

"I want it for protection."

"Oh, shit. Is this about all the stuff I told you the night the boys were in that brawl?"

Austin shook her head. "No, not at all. That stuff is why I haven't asked about this sooner or just figured it out myself."

"I'm not going to ask about the cops," Gemma said, standing to retrieve her purse. "The less they know the better. Here – this one isn't too big or weighty. No serial number. But you didn't get it from me."

Austin weighed the thing in her hand. "This is exactly what I was looking for. We can keep this between us right?"

Gemma eyed her suspiciously. "For now."

Austin tucked the gun in the back of her pants and hugged Gemma fiercely. She could easily see why everyone loved this woman so much.

She waited until after work the next day to catch Clay and ask him about the neighborhoods that might have good apartments in town.

Clay frowned. "You sure you're ready for that?"

"Yeah," Austin assured him. "I've been here over a month now. The prospects are moving in, and there's no reason for them to have to share a room."

"Maybe no one told you how it works with prospects, but they know they get what they get and that's that."

"I just don't want to step on the club's toes any more than I already have, Clay. I want to, you know, be a big girl and have my own place."

"You're not stepping on anybody's toes," Clay corrected. "But, you want your own place, that's fine. I'll send Juice out with you in the morning and get the guys to load everything up while you sign papers. There's a complex not too far from here that will have a space open for you, guaranteed."

"I don't suppose SAMCRO has anything to do with that," Austin smiled.

Clay only smiled back, ruffling her hair. "Get your stuff packed up and have it ready."

Austin thanked him again and headed back to the clubhouse. She didn't have much to pack except for her clothes and the few pictures, and they all went back in her bags. She took a shower and checked out the phonebook for a couple of furniture places. She was making a list when Jax poked his head in, knocking on the door.

"Hey," she said. "What's up?"

"The room looks cleaned out," Jax noted. "You going somewhere?"

"Don't sound so excited," Austin joked. "I'm just moving to an apartment tomorrow. Juice is going with me in the morning to this complex Clay said would have a spot open. I'm about to go look for some furniture and stuff right now."

Jax ran a hand through his hair and let it rest on the back of his neck. "This doesn't have anything to do with the night of the brawl, does it?"

"What would the brawl have to do with me getting my own place?"

"I didn't mean the brawl."

Austin realized he was talking about what had happened – or, rather, almost happened – between the two of them that night. She remembered how concerned she had been at the depth of the cut, how humble she knew he had to have made himself to let her help, and how her hands had shook as they moved over his muscles.

"It doesn't have anything to do with you, Jax. I'm just ready to be on my own and out of the club's way."

"You're not in anyone's way," Jax told her.

"That's what Clay said, too. Don't worry though," Austin smirked. "I'm happy to come over and bounce out any skanky crow eaters any time you need me."

Jax barked out a laugh. "That's good to know. You really don't have to leave."

"No, I do. It's okay though. I'm still working here, you'll still have plenty of time to glare at me and give me endless amounts of shit."

Jax shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I guess we didn't get off to the best start, did we?"

"You think so? Because I thought we were going to be best friends from the start." Austin looked up at him from where she sat on the bed, list in hand. "I know you didn't want me here, and I didn't really help with how I acted."

"For whatever it's worth, I'll be a little bummed not to see you around all the time."

Austin's mouth dropped in surprise, but she had to admit her feelings weren't far off from the same. "And I'll be a little bummed not to be around all the time."

Jax smiled at her, and her heart beat a little faster. Before the blush could creep up, she looked back down to her list.

"Well, I'll let you get to it," Jax said.

"Hey, Teller," Austin called after him. "I could use some help with the heavy lifting. I know it's a Friday night, but if you have some time before the crow eaters show up …"

Jax nodded. "Sure. Let me get the keys to my truck."

Austin nodded and put her list in her purse. She transferred the gun from her waistband to her purse and then dug her cash savings from its stash and put it in her wallet.

"Ready?" Jax asked.

"Ready," she confirmed with a smile.

.:.

When they returned to the clubhouse, Jax helped her transfer the few things she had brought home that day from the bed of his truck to the back of the van, which they would use to move her tomorrow. The furniture was set to be delivered in the early afternoon, and Gemma was going to take her to find the rest of what she hadn't found tonight the next day.

"Well, you're all set," Jax said. He looked to the clubhouse; people were already spilling out of the doors and the music was blaring. "You going to join the party?"

"I do still live here for one more night, and the movers aren't coming until later in the morning," Austin replied. "I guess I could party while I'm here."

Jax gave her that Teller smirk. In the last couple of weeks since he had almost kissed, his mind had stopped trying to convince him that she was trouble. He didn't care anymore why she came to Charming, only that she was there. This latest development of finding her own place only proved to him that she looked out for the MC and tried to do what she could to help. She hadn't been put in a position yet where that would cost sacrifice on her part, but Jax trusted her.

Deciding to take a chance, he held his hand out to her. "You think your brother would have a problem with you partying with me?"

Surprise came over her face again, then she shrugged. "Jax, I don't want to sound like a bitch, but –"

He knew what she was thinking. "I'm not looking for another crow eater, Austin. That's why I'm asking you this now."

"A moment of vulnerable honesty from Jax Teller," Austin sighed. "Never thought I'd see the day."

He chuckled and held his hand out again. "You going to make me look like an idiot?"

Austin seemed to consider him for a few more moments before slipping her hand into his. "I guess not."

Jax grinned and led her up to the clubhouse. He opened the door for her, placing a hand on the small of her back as they walked forward.

"I'm going to put my purse up," Austin said into his ear. Jax nodded and told her he would get her a drink.

Half-Sack was behind the bar and served up a beer for him. Jax asked for one for Austin, and Half-Sack looked at him suspiciously.

"Please tell me you're not turning my sister into a crow eater," Sack begged.

Jax laughed and shook his head. "No, man. I really don't even know what's going on there, but maybe I don't mind so much anymore that she's around."

"All right," Sack replied. Jax could tell he wasn't exactly giving his blessing, but he was at least going to give it a chance.

Jax took the two beers and found a free spot to stand with Bobby and Chibs, setting Austin's beer down on the nearby table.

"Hey Jax," Nikki greeted, slinking up next to him in a mini-dress that left little to the imagination.

"Nikki," Jax said flatly. "Didn't think I'd see you around here any time soon."

"Well, I just wanted to come and apologize for my little scene," she said, running a finger along his jawline. "It was uncalled for."

"Find someone else, Nikki," Jax told her. "I'm here with someone."

"I'm sure you are. But let me just remind you about when we were together …" She leaned in and gave him a lusty kiss. Jax just shook his head.

"That my beer?" Austin asked, suddenly joining the group and not looking at all like she was happy about what she had just seen. Jax nodded. "Thanks. Look, I'm just going to bed. Have to be ready for the move tomorrow. Have a good night, boys."

Jax watched her storm off, rolling his eyes. A few seconds later, a door slammed down the hall. He finished off his beer in one go and approached the bar for another one.

"That didn't take long," Half-Sack commented.

"Usually doesn't," Jax answered. He hadn't intended for anything like that to happen, especially so quickly. Perhaps it was inevitable, however, that he'd screw up something with a good girl like Austin. He was better off just sticking with crow eaters.

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and for everyone who has been reading this story! I know some parts are cliché and probably a little obvious, but I have a few things up my sleeve that I'm hoping will twist the plot at least a little. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

Austin was surprised the next morning that she didn't see Nikki coming out of Jax's room. She wasn't surprised, however, that it was some other skank leaving the clubhouse from his room after the party the night before. She had been stupid to think even for a few minutes that Jax was going to see her as anything but a piece of ass and drop her the moment something prettier came along.

She gathered her bags and threw them in the back of the Charger. Juice was already up, ready to go with her over to the apartment complex. Austin handed him the keys to her car and got in the passenger seat.

"You excited about having your own place?" Juice asked.

"Excited not to have to be around Jax and all his sexual escapades anymore," Austin grumbled.

Juice chuckled. "Are you jealous?"

Austin glared at him. "Hardly. Unfortunately it probably would be good to throw every damn crow eater out of the clubhouse. It's better if I leave."

"I thought you two walked in together last night?"

"Juice," Austin started, "do you really want to have this girly, gossipy conversation with me?"

He shrugged. "I can be nosy."

Austin just laughed. "Be that as it may, no matter how much I love you, I'm not up for talking about this."

"Fair enough," Juice agreed. He had seen Jax go through more than his fair share of women, and he hated to see Austin lost in the wake of that.

A few minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex and walked up to the leasing office. Juice introduced her to Laura, the property manager, and they all sat down to sign the paperwork. Fifteen minutes later, Austin had the keys to her own place, and she and Juice were headed back to Teller-Morrow.

"Get it taken care of?" Chibs asked.

"We did," Juice said. "I'll call Gemma and let her know we're back."

"Thanks, Juice." Austin sat on the hood of the Charger, holding her head in her hands.

"You seem a little overwhelmed, love," Chibs said, taking a seat next to her. "You sure this is what you want to do?"

"I'm not at all worried about moving," Austin said. "I actually can't wait to get out."

"Ah, so it's about Jackie-boy."

Austin sighed. "Between us?"

"Of course."

"It wasn't originally about Jax, but now being away from him is an added bonus," Austin confessed. "We avoided each other at all costs when I first got here and an argument was inevitable if we were in the same room. In the last couple of weeks, it seems like it's gotten better. Last night he helped me get some stuff for the apartment and when we got back, he asked me to be at the party with him. Said he wasn't looking for another crow eater, that's why he wanted me. Obviously that didn't last for very long."

Chibs reached over and squeezed her hand. "Thing about Jax is, he's always had the same life. I believe he wants it to change, but pursuing that change is sometimes tricky."

"Yeah, I believe that," Austin sighed. "Been through enough to know how it goes."

"Then just give him time, Aussie-girl. You and Jax went from hate to whatever else in not too long a time period. Get your heads straight and figure it out from there."

"Thanks, Chibs."

"You want me to wait with you for Gemma?"

"Sure."

They sat there on the Charger, Chibs telling stories about growing up overseas. He had gotten himself into quite a few knots, it seemed, and Austin loved hearing about it. It didn't seem like too much time had passed until Gemma arrived and they were off to finish shopping for the things Austin needed for her apartment.

.:.

Jax sat just outside the clubhouse, smoking a cigarette. He watched Austin and Chibs as they talked, unable to help his own smile when she laughed at something Chibs had said. He knew he'd been stupid not to go after her the night before when all that went down with Nikki. He wanted more, and it appeared even The Prince was going to have to work for what he wanted this time.

"Here's the extra key to her place," Gemma said, breaking him from his thoughts. "And the key to the Charger. The furniture should be there in about an hour. If you guys would meet them there and help them set up, I'll make sure she's got everything else. We'll see you soon."

Jax accepted her hug and kissed her on the cheek, not saying a word. He put the key on his key ring and went in search of Clay and the others so that they could head over to the apartment.

"Jax."

He turned just as he entered the clubhouse, seeing one of the new prospects standing there. Jax raised his brow. "What?"

"Um, I'm Dougie, one of the new prospects."

"Yeah, I caught on to that," Jax said. "What do you want?"

Dougie cleared his throat. "I was wondering, what's the rule about prospects hanging out with girls connected to the club?"

"What do you mean hanging out?" Jax asked.

"You know. Dating."

Jax looked skeptical. "What girl were you thinking? Crow eaters don't make good girlfriends and generally won't hook up with a prospect anyway."

"Actually, I was thinking more of Austin. I mean, she's not directly connected, I guess."

Jax shook his head. "No. She's connected. Her brother is patching in soon. She works for the garage. And she way too good for you."

"But not for you? I mean, you dumped her for some other girl last night, right?"

Jax grabbed Dougie by the cut and pushed him against the wall. "If you want in this club, you would do well not to mouth off to members, got it? Stay the hell away from Austin."

Dougie held his hands up. "Fine, I got it."

Jax let him go and smoothed out his own cut. "Get the hell out of my face."

Chibs had walked in just as Jax pushed Dougie and watched the whole scene. "Feeling a little territorial, Jackie-boy?"

Jax shook his head. "I'm fine. Get Piney, would you, and have him take the van over to her place. I'll take the Charger for whatever she's got in there."

Chibs agreed, and Jax headed out to the Charger. He adjusted the seat and the mirror, then fired up the engine. The car drove like a dream, but he wasn't surprised. Austin was a great mechanic and of course she'd keep her own vehicle in shape.

He tried to let his mind settle during the drive to the apartment, and he felt calmer by the time he arrived. He popped the trunk and pulled out her bags, sighing as an envelope fell from one of the bags. He picked it up and read that it was addressed to Austin at the garage. The return address was in North Carolina, and it was postmarked from just a few days ago. Feeling his interest pique, he pulled the letter from the envelope and unfolded it.

_Austin,_

_Your brother called and told me what happened. I know that I haven't been there for you over the years as I should have been, but I want to apologize for that. I can't help but feel that my actions, or lack thereof, have played a part in this difficult time in your life. _

_While I do believe you'd be best to return here and speak with the police, I understand the decision you've made to start over and I won't argue with it. Perhaps this is a good time to do that. I'm sending this check to help you with what I can, and if you need more, Kip knows where and how to get a hold of me. _

_As you know, Kip's mother was never fond of the idea that I had another child, so if you would please use discretion in any contact between us, I would appreciate it. I hope California is everything you're looking for, Austin, and that you find a safe place to be there. _

_Sincerely, _

_Joseph Epps_

Jax quickly folded up the letter and shoved it back in the envelope as the van pulled up in the parking spot next to him. He had always thought it was something serious that brought Austin to Charming, but the letter from her father made it sound even more serious than he thought. After all, if the old man thought it was better she speak to police, something had to be serious. He had agreed not to ask her about it again, but if the police were likely to get involved, that could seriously affect SAMCRO. It was probably better to ask Clay about it first, but maybe he could risk that and use the letter to make amends with Austin. He folded the envelope in half and put it in his back pocket. He'd wait until everything was settled in her apartment and then ask to speak with her privately.

The furniture had all arrived and was mostly set up by the time Gemma and Austin returned. The guys helped them bring up the bags and boxes, and everyone got to unloading and putting things away. Some of the guys grumbled about doing what they deemed outside of the manly realm of to-do's, but one look from Gemma set them straight. With that large of a group working, the apartment was completely settled by early evening.

Austin and Gemma put together a good meal for all of them, which they ate heartily. Most of the men left after they ate, with only Gemma staying behind to do the dishes, and Jax remaining to find an opportunity to speak with Austin.

"All right, sweetie. You going to be all right alone?" Gemma asked Austin.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I promise. Thank you so much for all your help today," Austin replied, hugging Gemma.

"You're more than welcome. I'll see you soon."

Gemma motioned for Jax to come outside with her. "Walk me to my car."

"All right. I'll come back up, Aus."

"You don't have to."

"Let him make sure everything gets locked up," Gemma directed. "He'll be back up."

Jax smiled at his mother. She'd seen written all over his face that he wanted to talk to Austin and knew Austin couldn't say no to her. They reached Gemma's car, and Jax opened the car door for her.

"You did good today, Mom."

Gemma smiled. "Austin's mom was never really a mother to her. Every girl needs that. She's a sweet girl, so I don't mind helping out where I can."

"Yeah."

"Every girl needs a man to look out for her, too," Gemma said. "Maybe you should see what you can do about that."

"I messed that up last night, Mom. I don't know if I'll be able to fix it."

"Jax," Gemma smiled, placing a hand on her son's cheek. "You're a good man. I've seen the way she's been looking at you since the night of that brawl."

"Mom," Jax groaned.

"_And _the way you've been looking at her. I'm not saying it's love or anything like that, but I think it's something worth trying for. Just don't screw it up anymore."

Gemma kissed him on the cheek then got in her car. Jax stepped away so she could leave, and took a deep breath. It was now or never.

He knocked on the door when he got back up to her apartment and she yelled that it was open. When he walked in, she was tying off a trash bag.

"I can do that," he offered.

"It's already done."

"Then I'll take it out when I leave."

Austin sighed and rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

He followed her into the bedroom. She was acting like he wasn't there, taking off her jewelry and running a brush through her hair.

"I need to talk to you," Jax told her.

"There's nothing for us to talk about."

He sighed and pulled the envelope from his pocket, placing it on the vanity in front of her. "Yes, there is."

Austin picked up the letter and turned to face him. "Where did you find this?"

"I was getting your bags out of the trunk of the Charger and it fell out."

"You didn't have to read it!"

"Austin, if the cops are involved in this, you have to tell me what's going on. You're around the MC and if the police have eyes on you, they have eyes on us."

"They don't have eyes on me – there's no reason to have eyes on me."

"Then tell me what happened so I can believe you."

Austin shook her head. "Maybe in light of the lie you told me last night, you should just believe what I have to say right now."

"I didn't lie to you last night."

"Your exact words, Jax, were, 'I'm not looking for a crow eater, that's why I'm asking you.' The next thing I know, you're swapping spit with that redheaded bitch I threw out of the clubhouse."

"I can explain that."

Austin shook her head. "I don't want you to explain it, Jax. Maybe I haven't been around for too long, but one of the things I picked up fast was that any girl who wants a relationship with Jax Teller is not only delusional, but asking for a shitload of trouble. And I'm not going to be that girl."

Jax couldn't blame her for feeling that way, and he knew good and well that everything she said was true. He had passed her over so easily for Nikki and then the other girl, and he couldn't even tell himself why.

"I'm sorry, Austin," Jax said quietly, kissing her cheek. "I'll see you Monday. Make sure you lock the door after me. Keep your cell on and call if you need anything. I'm the closest, so I can be here fast."

He headed for the door, setting the Charger key on the counter. He wasn't worried about walking back to the clubhouse; it would give him time to think more about what had happened in the last few days.

**A/N: I don't want to put **_**too **_**many updates up at once, but these chapters are pouring out of me and I really want to know what readers think so here they are! Thanks for reading. **


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey," Half-Sack said, catching Austin by the elbow. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Austin nodded. "Of course. What's up?"

"Dad said he sent you a check."

"He did. I used it on stuff for the apartment. He wrote a letter with it too, seemed pretty sincere."

"He feels horrible. He always has, but my mom is … well, my mom." He paused. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep up with you too much, Aus. I only have like a month till I patch in, so I have been doing a lot of club stuff."

Austin smiled. "Don't worry about it. I stay busy with work, and hang out with the guys or Gemma."

"What about Jax?" Kip asked.

Austin crossed her arms over her chest. "What about him?"

"I mean, have you guys talked?"

"He tried to apologize when I moved last week."

"And?"

"And what, Kip?" Austin said, exasperated. "I knew better than to even let myself think Jax Teller might be interested in me, but I did it anyway. I took him all of five minutes to fuck that up."

"I'm not saying you're wrong. I was just asking."

"Thanks for asking I guess."

"Did you make that other phone call?"

Austin nodded. "No word yet."

"All right, let me know when you hear and I will give the club a head's up."

"Thanks," Austin replied, hugging him.

"You're welcome. We'll get together soon," he promised.

"Sure," Austin agreed. "I'm proud of you, Kip. I know you worked hard to patch in, and you deserve it."

He smiled. "Excuse me, it's Half-Sack now."

Austin laughed. "I just don't think I can call my brother by a name that refers to his, um, personal business."

He laughed and hugged her, promising again to see her again soon.

She was home alone a few nights later, ready to settle in with a plate of spaghetti and her favorite Jason Statham movie when someone knocked on the door. She set her plate down and checked the peephole.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath. Three Mayans stood outside her door; she didn't see guns but that didn't mean they didn't have them.

She quietly walked back to the couch and pulled the gun Gemma had given her from under a cushion. She heard a few clicks indicating they were picking the locks on the door. Keeping the gun in hand, she retreated to the bedroom.

She could hear them stomp into the apartment and shut the door behind them.

"That plate is warm," one of them said. "She's here. Find her, but remember what the guy said. We do this clean. It's only a warning."

Austin cursed again and pulled her phone from her pocket, hitting the speed dial for Jax.

"Jax," she said when he answered. "Listen, I don't want to be on the phone long, but there are some Mayans in my apartment right now. They know I'm here but they haven't …"

Someone pulled the phone away from behind her, and Austin winced. She'd been found now. She released the safety on the gun and pointed it as she turned.

"Get the hell out of here."

They all laughed at her. "We didn't come to kill you, _amor_, so you can put the gun down."

"I'm not putting it down till you're gone."

The one doing all the talking made a grab for the gun while another one wrestled her arms behind her.

"You're going to regret this. You mess with me, you mess with SAMCRO," Austin warned.

The talker shook his head. "We are here to deliver a message to you: Don't talk to the cops. Don't say anything to the MC. Keep your mouth _shut_."

Austin spit in his face. "You've delivered your message, now get the fuck out of here."

He laughed. "That was Jax Teller on the phone, right? He can't get here fast enough before we sign this message. SAMCRO can't help you now, _pendeja_."

.:.

Jax shut his phone as soon as the line went dead and motioned for Opie and Half-Sack to follow him.

"That was Austin, she said there's Mayans in her apartment," he explained. "I'm taking Ope and Sack with me."

"Fuck that," Bobby replied. "We're all going."

The roar of motorcycles leaving the lot started with Jax's bike and grew louder as the others started their own motorcycles and followed him to the complex.

His mind raced. He had no idea why the Mayans would go after Austin, or how they would have known where to find her. He wanted to kick himself, too. If he hadn't acted like such an idiot the night of the party, he more than likely would have been with Austin when the Mayan's showed up.

Half-Sack was right on his heels as he headed up the steps and stopped at Austin's door. He didn't need his key since the door was still open. Nothing looked amiss in the kitchen or the living room, so he checked the bathroom while Half-Sack checked the bedroom.

"Jax! She's in here," Sack called.

Jax walked to the bedroom in just a couple strides and found Half-Sack already kneeling next to Austin's body.

"Austin, wake up," Sack said, patting her cheek with his hand. "Come on, Aus, talk to me."

Austin groaned and tried to move, and relief washed through Jax's body. She wasn't dead.

"What happened?" Sack asked as he helped her sit up.

Austin shook her head. "They knocked on the door. I ran in here to call Jax, but they found me and destroyed the phone. One of them said they were supposed to keep it clean. They took the gun from me, and two of them held me while the other one knocked me around."

"That explains the bruise on her face," Chibs noted. "Where else did they hit you?"

"Kicked me in the ribs a few times."

Jax stood in the doorway while Chibs looked her over, trying to regain control of his angry breathing. All he wanted right now was to find those Mayans and do to them what they had done to Austin – times a hundred.

"Jackie-boy, she needs to go to a hospital. She's got cracked ribs, at least. Maybe a broken hand."

"What did they do to her hand?" Jax asked.

"Nothing," Austin smirked. "I got one hand loose and punched one of them in the mouth. His face was just harder than I expected it to be."

"Could have been a metal plate or something," Chibs said.

"I seem to remember Happy pulverizing the jaw of a Mayan a year or so ago," Clay spoke up. "Half-Sack, Chibs, get her to St. Thomas. Jax, Tig, you come with me. We're going to see Marcos Alvarez."

"Gladly," Jax answered. He took one more glance at Austin where Half-Sack was helping her off the floor. He was concerned for her well-being, but he would check on her at St. Thomas later. For now there Mayans that needed to be dealt with.

.:.

Once at St. Thomas, Austin checked in with the ER nurse. The nurse was able to get her right back in a room, but only with one visitor. Chibs volunteered to wait in the lobby, and Kip followed her back to the room. A doctor was in quickly to survey her injuries.

"You definitely have some rib injuries, and the swelling in your hand and wrist concerns me," the doctor told them. "I'd like to send you for some x-rays."

"That's fine," Austin agreed.

"Can you tell me how this happened?" the doctor asked, eyeing Kip suspiciously.

"I was carrying some heavy grocery bags up to my apartment," Austin lied. "Probably more at once than I should have. Was trying to get the key in the lock and I lost my balance. Tumbled right down the stairs with all the groceries coming after me."

"You were there?" he asked Kip.

"This is my brother," Austin explained. "I called him when breathing hurt and my hand started swelling."

The doctor didn't seem to fully believe her but didn't argue either. He sent her for x-rays, then promised they would get her through as quickly as possible.

"I'm sure," Kip said after the doctor left. "He just doesn't want any Sons any here any longer than necessary."

"Well thanks for expediting the process for me," Austin joked.

Austin was groggy when she came back from x-ray. The nurse explained to Kip that they had given her a pain killer after the x-ray because it generally caused more pain for patients, after having to move the limb around in different angles and positions.

"Someone will be in shortly to bandage her ribs and cast the arm."

"Thanks," Kip told the nurse. He turned back to Austin where she was laying on the bed, her arm propped on a pillow. "I'm sorry, Austin. I should have been there."

She reached out and squeezed his hand. "They would have gotten me alone at the store or something like that. This isn't your fault."

"I shouldn't have told you to call off your police watch."

"That was my choice, Kip. What happened in Carolina happened, and we can't do anything about it. Charming is my home now, and SAMCRO is all the family I've got. If I have to chance my safety to put the MC back under the radar, then so be it."

"What did they say to you?"

Austin sighed. "That some guy had sent them with a message for me – keep my mouth shut, don't talk to the cops or the MC."

Kip ran a hand over his face. "I know you just got into that place, Aus, but I think you need to go back to the clubhouse for a while."

"Kip," she groaned, the pain weakening her strong façade. "No."

"He's right," Clay said, walking in with Jax right on his heels.

"How long were you two out there?"

"We just walked in. Mayans are suddenly nowhere to be found. Tig and Happy are on it," Jax answered. "Sack's right. Until we can figure out why they targeted you, you need to be somewhere safe. We could have someone watch you, but the clubhouse is safer."

"I don't think so," Austin argued, although the drug was making her words sound weak as well.

"We do," Clay answered. "Look, sweetie, I know you were looking forward to being somewhere with a little less testosterone, but this is for your safety."

She didn't agree so much as she gave in to them. Her eyelids were getting heavy and suddenly all she wanted to do was sleep.

"I'll stick around, if that's all right. Take her by the apartment to get some stuff and back to the clubhouse," Jax spoke up.

Kip nodded. "Fine by me."

"Sack, you can come with me. Tig and Happy will need a third man, I can send you with them," Clay offered.

"Good," he agreed. He kissed Austin on the temple. "I'll check on you later."

Austin tried to smile as Clay too kissed her temple, and they left as the nurse came in to bandage her side and cast her arm. She then turned to Jax who was seated in the one chair in the room.

"I don't need you to be my hero," she said quietly.

Jax didn't say anything; Austin rolled her eyes. He wasn't going to argue with her in public, and that was fine. She had plenty of argument in store for him.

.:.

She was too out of it by the time they left the hospital to go and get things from her place, so Jax took her right back to the clubhouse. He sent one of the prospects over to Gemma's with her apartment key so that Gemma could put a bag together and bring it over.

He carried her from the truck – he had been thinking clearly enough before going to the hospital to know she wasn't going to be up to being on the back of his motorcycle – to his room in the clubhouse. He sat her on the edge of the bed.

"You all right to sit there for a second?"

Austin's eyes were closed, but she nodded. He fished in his drawers for a spare SAMCRO t-shirt. Jax turned around to look at her and took a deep breath. If he thought seeing her in a short skirt or with her hair down was difficult, this wasn't going to help things at all.

"Can you raise your arms?" Jax asked as he stood in front of her.

"This one," she said, absently raising her right hand – the one with the cast – and quickly dropping it. "Or maybe not."

"Ribs are cracked on the other side," Jax surmised. "Okay. This is probably going to hurt, but you're going to sleep for a while so you're going to want to be comfortable."

Austin opened her eyes and peered at him. "You're about to take my clothes off, aren't you?"

Jax couldn't help but chuckle. "Not if you don't want me to."

"I feel like that's a trick question."

He chuckled again before carefully removing her arms from the shirt she was wearing and pulling it over her head. He had to suck in a deep breath to keep his composure. He knew she was slender, but her curves seemed more apparent without a shirt on. He grabbed for the t-shirt and quickly but gently pulled it down over her head and cover her.

"Okay, ready to take the pants off?"

Austin sighed. "You're going to have to undo 'em. I don't even want to move right now."

"Okay. This is going to sound weird, but if you lay back, I can undo the button easier."

"More experience that way, I'm guessing," she said as she laid back.

Jax noticed how his hands shook as he undid the button and the fly on her jeans before shimmying them down her legs. He helped her scoot back to the pillow and pulled the blanket up over her.

"Here's a pillow to put under your arm, and we'll put this one under your ribs."

Austin sighed, finally settled. Her eyes opened once more to look at him. "You didn't have to do all this, Jax."

"I wanted to," he admitted, leaning over her and pushing a strand of hair off of her forehead. "Maybe you don't want me to be your hero, and I know I've been a dickhead where you're concerned. I'm going to show you, Austin, that you can trust me."

"Being with me, Jax, it's more than you want," she told him. "You can't have girls on the side, and I'm going to care about where you are. I'm going to want to ask questions – questions that if I don't ask, it's going to put a gap between us. A gap I don't know if I can deal with."

"Well, while you're deciding all that, I'm going to be here. I'm not going anywhere."

"What if I go?"

"Where would you go?" Jax asked, frowning.

But her eyes had already closed and her chest was rising in the even breaths of sleep. Sighing, Jax kissed her forehead and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

**A/N: I wanted to post this sooner but I've got a chest cold, so I've had to work on it in increments. I think the medicine is finally kicking in though, so I'm going to try and get another in tonight. Thanks for reading! **


	7. Chapter 7

Clay Morrow had gotten an earful from his wife when he called to let her know what had happened to Austin. She argued when he told her to stay put until they needed her, but Clay had been adamant. As soon as the prospect brought the key by, however, she was out the door without a moment's hesitation.

There was no saving the spaghetti, so she threw it out, rinsing the pan and the plate and setting them in the dishwasher. Then, she went to the bedroom to get a bag together for Austin and saw the phone in pieces on the floor. She picked those up and threw them away, then dug out a small duffel bag and filled it with everything she thought Austin might need for the next few days. If they needed more things, Gemma would retrieve them for her.

Gemma directed the Cadillac to the clubhouse, anxious to see for herself that Austin was going to be all right. She parked and nearly ran inside; Jax stopped her before she could get back to the bedroom.

"She's asleep in my room," he explained. "That painkiller knocked her out."

"Is she really okay?"

Jax shrugged. "She's knocked around, that's for sure. Cracked ribs, bruised face. Broke a bone in her hand and her wrist punching one of them who apparently had a metal plate in his jaw."

"Oh shit," Gemma said, shaking her head. "Was she pretty upset?"

Jax shook his head. "Nah, she was actually pretty calm. More pissed off that they got the better of her, I think."

"That's better than panicking, I guess."

"Mom," Jax said, standing from the couch. "Where'd she get the gun?"

Gemma frowned. "What gun?"

"The one she pointed at them when they came into the apartment? They took her from her hold, but Bobby found it under the bed."

"I don't know," Gemma replied.

Jax smirked. "You're a horrible liar."

Gemma sighed. "She asked me where she could get one for protection and without the cops knowing. I gave her one of mine."

"You have to tell me these things."

Gemma crossed her arms over her chest. "Actually, I don't have to tell you anything about her, Jackson. It's not like she's your old lady."

Jax nodded, falling back to the couch and running a hand over his face. "Yeah, that's been made pretty clear. I fucked it up, Mom. I'm trying to fix it, but it's making me realize how much of a change it would be from the life I have now. I already re-think things – what would Austin think if I did this? What if Austin found out about that? She doesn't trust me, anyway. Says that being with me, there would be things I have to omit that would cause a gap between us and she doesn't want that."

"Then close the gap, son. Just tell her what she wants to know and let her decide if she wants to deal with it or not. You can't make the decision for her, and you can't push her away in the process if she doesn't adapt quickly," Gemma told him. "Trust me. Your mother has a lot of experience in the old lady department."

Jax smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Mom. She's probably in need of another pain killer – you want to take it to her? There's already a bottle of water next to the bed."

"She's in your bed?" Gemma said, raising her brow.

"Yeah, and she's half-clothed in my t-shirt," Jax warned. "Nothing shady, I just wanted her to be comfortable."

Gemma just shook her head. "You're really hard up for this girl, aren't you?"

Jax didn't say anything or even look at her; that's how Gemma knew she was right.

.:.

Austin startled awake, trying to get her eyes to focus on the person sitting next to her on the bed. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was Gemma.

"You scared the shit out of me," Austin breathed. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Few hours, I think. How do you feel?" Gemma inquired.

Austin grimaced as she sat up. "Sore. Achy. My ribs actually hurt the worst. Mother fuckers and their steel-toed boots."

"Don't you worry, baby. They'll get theirs."

"I don't doubt that at all," Austin said with a ghost of a smile. "I'm surprised Jax isn't out there looking for them with the others."

"Well, I don't doubt he was pretty torn between looking after you and finding the ones who did this and beating them to within an inch of their lives. I think he's upset with himself that he didn't get there faster."

Austin shook her head. "It isn't his fault."

Gemma handed her a pain pill and the water bottle. Austin swallowed it down and let out a deep breath.

"Gemma, has Jax said anything to you about me and him, you know, being together?"

"We've talked about it."

"And?"

Gemma looked Austin straight in the eye. "Jax doesn't really know what to think about you, Austin. He was so against you being here in the first place, and I think you took him by surprise."

"He took me by surprise, I know that for sure. I just can't get over all the secrets and shit like that. I don't want to wonder when he's on a run if some sweet buy caught his attention or if he's laying dead somewhere when I didn't even know he was leaving."

"Give him a chance, baby. I'm sure Jax is just as confused as you are, but I have never seen my son look at a girl the he looks at you. Never."

"And how's that?"

Gemma sighed. "Like he's Superman and you're kryptonite."

Austin couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Gemma."

"Of course. Get some rest. I'll be out here with Jax for a bit before I go home. Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks," Austin replied just before her eyes shut again.

.:.

Jax finished his brief phone conversation and turned to Gemma.

"They found Alvarez. He claims he has no idea about Austin's attack, but has a good idea who would do it for pay and without his approval. He's tracking those guys down and will deliver at least the one with the metal jaw to us in the next couple of days."

"Good. Those bastards need to learn," Gemma stated. "She just had another rpain pill so she should be out for a while. She'll hurt way more tomorrow than today. I'll come by and help her clean up, but make sure someone is around for her as much as possible."

"I will," Jax promised.

"Good boy. As for you and Austin, just give her time, Jax. She wants to trust you, and you have to show her that she can."

That gave Jax some hope. "Thanks, Mom."

He walked her out to her car and let out a deep breath as the taillights disappeared from sight. His mother's words made him think. Austin's words made him think. He knew that being with Austin meant a lot more than stripping off his clothes every night and leaving without a word the next morning. Austin was going to have to make some changes, and he was going to have to make some changes. There was only one way to find out if it was worth it.

He was sure she was sleeping, but maybe she was awake enough to talk to him about it again. If not, he'd make sure he got the chance the next day. Whenever the chance came, he decided he needed to be there for it. He had to protect her by being close to her; someone else would have to take care of the Mayans. If other club business came up, he'd only go if necessary. They all loved Austin, surely they'd understand.

Jax shut down the light of the main room of the clubhouse and headed back for his bedroom. He expected the hallway to be dark except for maybe light coming from under the prospects' room door, but the light was actually coming from his room where Austin was sleeping.

Frowning, he made sure his gun was accessible; who could have possibly gotten to her just in the time he walked Gemma to the car? _Somebody already in the clubhouse, _he thought.

Sure enough, he could see Dougie just a few steps into the room as he came around the corner. Rage filled every inch of Jax's body and he grabbed for the prospect, throwing him out into the hallway and wailing on him, one punch after the other.

"Stop! Stop! Please!" Dougie yelled. "I thought I heard something in the room, I was just checking on her!"

Jax stopped mid-punch and put Dougie into a headlock. "That's a little convenient, don't you think? The other day you're asking to date her, and now when I'm going you suddenly hear something in the room? Don't fucking lie to me!"

"I swear," Dougie said, nearly crying.

Thinking that perhaps the protective feelings he had over Austin had gotten the best of him, he dropped Dougie to the ground. "Get the hell out of here. I don't give a fuck where you stay tonight, but I suggest you be here for church tomorrow. The club will decide if you stay or go."

Dougie couldn't get out of the clubhouse fast enough. Jax waited until he heard the door shut to put his gun back in the waistband of his pants.

"Jax?"

He cursed under his breath and walked into the room. "It's all right, Austin. Everything's fine."

"What was all that about?"

Jax pulled off his hoodie and t-shirt, then put the gun on the nightstand and dropped his jeans to the floor. "I walked Gemma out to the car, came back, and Dougie was in here. Did he touch you?"

"No. I didn't even know he had come in." Austin paused. "I don't like him, Jax. I don't want him near me. I try not to ask for much …"

"Don't worry," Jax assured her, climbing into the bed. "He won't be getting anywhere near you so long as I can help it. Has he said something to you before?"

"He just … reminds me of someone."

Jax nodded. "All right. Are you okay with me being in the bed too?"

"So long as you keep your hands to yourself."

"You can never get away without a cynical comment for me, can you?" Jax smirked, finding it kind of adorable.

"I'm just saying," Austin replied, smirking back. "But no, I don't mind."

"Good." He pushed her hair away from her face once again and looked down to the brown-green eyes looking back at him. "I know I messed up, Aus. I know you're scared to be with me, but I'm scared too. Scared of messing up and not having you at all."

"More honesty," Austin commented. "Feel like I'm getting a special deal because I'm hurt or something."

"Could be," Jax agreed. "But I mean it."

"I know you mean it now."

"And I'll mean it tomorrow," he whispered. "You'll see."

.:.

And that's how they slept for the next week until Austin felt well and capable enough to get up and around on her own. Gemma would come by in the morning to help her bathe and get dressed. For the first few days, Austin only felt like sleeping. Once the pain started to recede and she didn't need the pain killer throughout the day, cabin fever hit her hard. Everyone worked during the day, so it wasn't like she could get out much.

Finally, a week after the Mayan incident, Austin got herself up, grimaced through a shower as her ribs were still a little sore, and got dressed in her work clothes.

"What are you doing?" Jax asked.

"Going to work."

He frowned and ran ahead of her, blocking the door. "I don't think so."

"Jax," Austin huffed. "I _cannot _spend another day in this clubhouse by myself. Please just at least let me hang out in the garage and pretend to be at work."

He considered it carefully. "All right. But I see you lifting anything heavier than a socket wrench and you're right back in here."

Austin was so ecstatic, she actually hugged him and kissed his cheek on her way out the door. Although they had been sharing the same bed for the seven nights, Jax had barely touched her, and she certainly hadn't reached out to him. No more conversations had been held regarding the relationship. The hug and the kiss – even on the cheek – was the most contact they'd had the whole time.

By the end of the work day though, Jax wished he had pushed the issue. Maybe she'd be his old lady by now and he could have a say in what she did – although knowing Austin, being an old lady wasn't going to stop her stubbornness one bit. At least then they would stay together, be it at the clubhouse or her place. At any rate, by the end of the day she had Clay convinced it was all for her to go back to her apartment.

"We don't even know where Dougie is," Jax argued. "We don't know _why _those Mayans targeted her. We're just going to let her go back to the lions' den?"

Clay shook his head. "Look, Jax. I'm a tough guy, you know that. Even your mother has trouble getting stuff out of me sometimes. If I had a daughter though, I imagine she'd be like Austin. She'd look at me with those big eyes like Austin does, and I'd be putty in her tiny little hands."

"So you're choosing to spoil her over keeping her safe?"

"If I didn't think she'd be really safe, I wouldn't let her go. Alvarez took care of his guys as far as any further attacks, for any reason. As for Dougie, I think you probably spooked him and he probably is staying out of the way thinking he's out. You want to try to talk her into staying, be my guest."

Jax gritted his teeth and headed to his room in the clubhouse. Austin was almost done packing her things.

"You're not talking me out of this, Teller," she said without turning around.

"How'd you know it was me?"

Austin stopped to look at him. "You weren't even going to let me get out to the garage today, I knew you weren't going to be happy about me going home. Who else was going to come stomping into the room while I'm packing?"

Well, she had him pegged. It cooled his anger and he tried a softer approach. "Austin, please. Stay until we at least know where Dougie is and we can put a tail on him. You yourself said you didn't like him."

Austin shook her head. "I don't belong here, Jax. I'm just taking up space you guys don't even have. I'm sure you'd like to have your bed to yourself." She shouldered her bag and shrugged. "Look, it's not like I'm not going to be around. I'm just going home right now to drop off my stuff and get cleaned up, then I'm going to Gemma and Clay's for supper again. I'm not just going to be a sitting duck alone in my apartment."

"You mean when you're sleeping alone and unaware of what's going on?"

Austin sighed. "Remember when I told you I didn't need you to be my hero, Jax? I wasn't just trying to be tough. I have a brother here, in case you forgot. I'm not trying to be a bitch or to fight with you and I appreciate everything you've done for me since I got here. Thing is, it just isn't your job to keep me safe."

He wanted to argue with her, but it all seemed so pointless just then. She wasn't budging, so he just had to let her go.

**A/N: I apologize this update took me so long! My cold ended up being bronchitis, and then I worked three twelve-hour shifts in a row …exhausting. I'm going to at least start another chapter tonight if not get it up for y'all to read. **

**I have to thank you ALL for the reviews – they are so encouraging! Gotta give a shout-out though to **_**msgemgem **_**whose suggestion actually gave me an idea to improve on my original plot. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

Austin was quiet at supper, pushing her food around her plate and mostly just listening to Clay and Gemma talk. She couldn't get that look on Jax's face as she left the clubhouse out of her mind. She knew that he genuinely believed he had feelings for her now, but that could only last for so long. Once he found out what was really going on – which seemed inevitable at this point – he wouldn't want her anymore. No point in investing her heart to something that was never going to be.

"You feeling okay, sweetie? Ribs bothering you?" Gemma asked.

"No, ma'am. I'm sorry, everything tastes great. Just thinking about some things."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Austin leaned her head on her hand. "Not really. I'm just … got too much on my mind."

"Second-guessing going back to your apartment?" Clay asked.

"No," she replied shaking her head. "I still think that was the right thing. It's easier being on my own."

Clay and Gemma exchanged a knowing look. Clay pulled his phone from his pocket. "Why don't I give Half-Sack a call? I know you guys don't get much time together and maybe we can have him crash on your couch tonight, just to be on the safe side."

Austin nodded, and Gemma gave Clay a grateful look. She let out a deep breath and tried to choose her words carefully. "You're letting this thing with Jax weigh on you way too hard, baby. Either you want to be with him or you don't. And, if you don't, that's okay. But that boy is hard up for you. If getting-over has to be done, he's got to start it now. You've changed him, Austin, and he'll never be the same, with or without you. _You're _the one who decides who Jax becomes."

"No pressure or anything," Austin scoffed. "I know, Gemma. I know everything you're saying is right, and it isn't that I _don't _want to be with Jax. I don't know how to explain it. I'm scared of … a lot of things. God, I feel like a broken record talking to you about all of this."

Gemma shook her head. "One of these times you're going to say it and the answer's going to be right in front of you. You'll know what you want to do."

Clay walked back in then, holding up the phone. "Sack says he'll meet you at your place in about twenty minutes."

Austin nodded. "Thanks, Clay. I better get going then."

She helped Gemma clean up the table and the kitchen, then waited for Clay to walk her to her car.

"You know, Aus, I know it's better for you to talk to Gemma about these things. I just want to say … that night of the brawl, there was a reason I wanted _you _to patch Jax up. I'm a rough-edged bastard, but the way he looks at you and the way you look at him – I've seen that before. I think it's a stupid thing to pass up."

Austin smiled. "You and Gemma?"

"No," Clay said with a smirk. "Gemma and John."

"Jax's father?" Austin clarified, her jaw dropping slightly.

Clay nodded, then pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Be safe going home, sweetheart. Have Sack call me when you're both at the apartment."

"Thanks, I will."

Kip was waiting for her at the apartment, making sure she let him check the place out before he let her in. Austin rolled her eyes, but mostly because she was just ready for bed and tired of the delay.

She found extra bedding for Kip and set up the couch for him. "Help yourself to whatever. You know that."

"Thanks, Aus." Kip said. "You all right? You look stressed."

She hadn't discussed it with her brother yet. Maybe this was as good a time as any to talk to him about it. She braided her hair and put on a pair of sweats, then sat in her recliner. She wasn't sure how to preface it, so she just went ahead and asked.

"Kip, how would you feel about me being with Jax?"

He frowned. "I thought you decided against that."

"I did, too. He just kind of stuck. He's so intent on keeping me safe." Austin shook her head. "We hated each other so much at first, and I don't even know when that changed."

"You asked me how I'd feel about it," he said. "If you're going to be with any of the Sons, Aus, I'd want it to be Jax. I know he'll keep you safe and he'd give his life for yours. I don't know when the hatred changed either, but I know both of you want this. Maybe you should just give it a chance."

"Maybe," Austin shrugged. "Everything else is keeping me from just giving in. The reason I came here, this shit with the Mayans. I haven't heard back from Carolina yet. He won't trust me if he finds out that –"

"There's no reason not to trust you," Kip said, covering her hand with his. "No reason."

Austin nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Get some sleep, Aus. You look like shit."

She laughed. "Thanks, _brother_."

They bid each other good night, and Austin closed the bedroom door behind her. She checked that her gun was safely tucked away behind the bedside lamp and climbed into the bed. Phone in hand, she flipped it open and stared at it.

_Call Jax, _her mind directed her. _You know he's not sleeping either. You probably owe him an apology. _

She hit the speed dial number but couldn't hit the button to make the call connect. She had too much pride to call him when just a few hours ago she was basically telling him to butt out of her life altogether. Instead she cleared the screen and dialed another well-known number.

"Hey, Mom, it's me," Austin told the voicemail system. "I'm sorry I haven't called since I left. Everything was such a mess … my fault, I suppose. Call me when you get this, okay?"

Closing the phone, Austin set it on the nightstand and closed her eyes. Nothing left to do for now than try to get some sleep.

.:.

Jax was wide awake as well, staring up at the ceiling of the clubhouse. Austin had only been gone for an hour when he considered going after her, but he just didn't know what else to say or do to convince her he wasn't going anywhere and that he wasn't going to screw up again. His phone chirped, so he reached for his pants and fished it out of the pocket.

"Yeah."

"Hey, it's Mom," Gemma greeted. "How are you doing?"

"Fine."

"Liar. I know how Austin was when she was here and she isn't nearly as convinced as you are that being together could be a good thing. Just wanted to make sure you're not drowning your sorrows in some bimbo with big tits."

Jax chuckled. "No, I'm alone."

"Good. You just keep doing what you're doing, honey. She's a good girl; she'll come around."

"Thanks, Mom. Get some sleep."

"You too, baby."

He ended the call but kept the phone open. He hit the speed dial number for Austin's phone and stared at the screen. He could easily call her, but what would his excuse be? He wasn't prepared to beg anymore. So instead, he cleared the screen, flipped the phone shut and rolled over to try and get some sleep.

He was doing an oil change on an old Buick the next day when someone yelled for him from the lot. He rolled the creeper out from under the car and frowned.

"What the hell is going on?" he muttered to himself.

Austin, who was working on the next car over shook her head. "Shit. It's Dougie. He's back."

Jax dropped the tool in his hand and walked briskly over to where Clay and Tig were already talking to Dougie about his absence.

"Where the hell have you been?" Jax demanded.

"Relax," Tig told him. "It's just like Clay thought. Kid spooked after you busted him, but now he's ready to man up."

Jax shook his head. "He shouldn't be here."

"Come on, man. You thought the same thing about Aus and now –"

"Not the same thing, Tig. Not by a long shot."

Clay put his hands on Jax's shoulders and took his a few steps back. "Let him go inside and get cleaned up. We'll take a vote tonight to decide if he stays or goes. But you should know, Jax, I'm only calling for majority on this."

"Fine," Jax growled. "But I want a full explanation from him _and _I get to tell my side of what happened."

"You'll get your chance, don't worry."

Jax returned to the garage, picking the wrench up off the ground. Austin glanced at him; he could see she didn't want to ask but wanted to know what was going on.

"Club's going to vote in tonight on whether or not he stays. Clay only wants a majority, but I'll get to plead my case to let him go before we take the vote."

Austin just nodded. "Okay. Thanks for telling me."

"Yeah. Look, I know you don't want a hero, but I'm going to bat for you here, Aus. Maybe you could give me some information on what it is about this guy – why you don't want him around you."

She swallowed and shook her head. "I can't."

"Fuck, Austin. Without anything more than my gut instinct and your preference, I can't promise that he won't get voted back in."

"So be it," she shrugged, going back to her work.

He wanted to shake her. For as much as he cared about her, no one had ever frustrated him so much. She was so _stubborn_.

.:.

Her head was pounding. A long, hot day at the garage had been concluded with another argument with Jax over telling him why she didn't want Dougie around – this time wasn't just a little banter, either. It was a significant yelling match that hadn't really ended so much as it had been put on pause by other members of the club pulling them out of each other's faces. She was counting her lucky stars she didn't get pulled over on the way home for as fast as she drove trying to get away from the TM property.

Now she was laid back on her couch, arm over her eyes, just praying that sleep would come soon so that she could be unconscious to the whole ordeal. Arguing with Jax had never seemed like that big of a deal until the night of the brawl. Once she had felt that anticipation of almost kissing him, it was as if she developed a sense of guilt every time they argued.

A knock on her door interrupted the ignorant bliss she was just about to fall into. Letting out a deep huff, she rose from the couch and checked the peephole before opening the door.

"Can I help you?"

The familiar man in the hallway didn't look too much older than her. Clean cut in a t-shirt and jeans, brown hair and green eyes, he smiled at her. "Hi. I'm Ian, I live downstairs."

Although she wasn't one hundred percent sure, Austin decided that must have been where she knew him from. "I'm Austin."

"Nice to meet you," Ian replied. "So you're a mechanic, wow. I mean, I saw the Teller-Morrow shirt before, but I wasn't sure."

"You've just been watching me around the complex or something?" Austin frowned.

He held his hands up. "Sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound so creepy. I just see you here and there. Charming isn't that big of a town, you know."

"Right," Austin said. "Well, Ian, it was nice to meet you. If you'll excuse me, I've got to get out of this car grease and oil."

"Wait," he said before she could close the door. "I'm nervous. I get that way with pretty girls."

Austin rolled her eyes but smiled despite herself. "Thanks, I guess."

"Yeah. I just thought maybe we could have dinner."

"When did you have in mind?"

Ian shrugged. "Is tonight too soon?"

Austin gestured towards her work clothes. "It'll take me an hour or so to clean up."

"That's all right. I can come back. Why don't we say an hour and a half, so you can take your time?"

"Fair enough. See you then."

He waved before walking back down the steps and disappearing down another hallway. Austin shut the door and smiled to herself. Maybe he was a little too preppy to really be her type, but Ian could be just the thing to get her mind off of Jax.

.:.

Jax slammed through the chapel doors, demanding a beer from one of the other prospects. He picked it up and finished it off in a few gulps.

The majority had it; Dougie would stay. He was forgiven for running, but was required to stay away from Austin until further notice. If she was in the room, he wasn't, no matter the situation. Jax supposed he should at least be grateful for that, but it wasn't enough.

"You can't let your feelings get in the way here," Bobby told him. "I know how you feel, but Juice checked him out. His record is clean, man. He's an asset to the club."

"I guess we'll just have to wait until he gets to her when none of us are around, and then everyone will see, won't they?" Jax growled back. "I'm out of here."

"Hey, where are you going?" Clay demanded.

"To tell Austin that the people she trusts and calls family just voted to let _that _mother fucker stick around," Jax replied, pointing at Dougie.

No one seemed to have an argument, so he left then. He cranked up his bike, put on his helmet and made way for Austin's.

It wasn't too late, so he suspected that she would still be awake. He knocked on the door a few times and, for her peace of mind, decided it might be best to announce himself.

"Austin, it's Jax. I need to talk to you."

He heard shufflings inside the apartment and a male voice. Fearing the worst, he put his hand on the gun underneath his cut, breathing a sigh of relief when Austin answered the door. She stepped into the hallway and immediately shut the door behind her.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Jax frowned. "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't tell me you've already forgotten that fight we got into after work?"

"Look, I didn't come to fight or argue. I just thought you'd want to know that the club voted to keep Dougie. He's basically on probation and isn't allowed in the same room with you, but he's still going to be around."

Austin bit her lip and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, I guess thanks for coming all the way over here to tell me. You didn't have to – you could have just called and saved yourself the trouble."

Jax scoffed and shook his head. "When are you going to get it through your stubborn brain, Austin, that anything I do for you isn't trouble? It's me, making myself vulnerable and trying to prove to you that I _do _want you. That I _do _want to be with you. You don't make anything easy. Nothing has been easy since that day you drove on to the lot. Being around you, living in the clubhouse with you. I hated it at first, but somehow you grew on me. I got to see who you really are and that changed the way I feel."

Austin shrugged. "And what now, Jax? You're all in love and giddy?"

"Don't do that," he said calmly. "Don't push me away because you're scared."

"Scared? What do I have to be scared of?"

"Of being with me," Jax answered loudly. "Of losing someone you care about. Everyone in your life – your mom, your father, even your brother – they've all left you at some point to fend for yourself and you're afraid that someone else is going to do that. You're pushing me away because you don't want to be hurt like that again, but you can only push for so long before someone sees through it."

The apartment door opened and a man who looked to be about their age stood in the doorway. "Is there a problem here?"

Jax felt the anger inside him grow. "No man, there's no problem. Not anymore – it just got solved."

Austin grabbed for his arm, following him down the stairs and out to the parking lot. "This isn't what you think, Jax. Would you just listen to me?"

"Why would I listen to you? I'm out here spilling my fucking soul to you, and you've got some other guy in your apartment! Just forget it, all right? I was wrong, I'm sorry."

"It isn't like that!" she insisted.

But he didn't want to hear it. Instead he started his bike and tore out of the parking lot. The only stop he made on the way to the clubhouse was to call that blonde from the last party and tell her to meet him there.


	9. Chapter 9

As soon as Ian left, Austin called Kip to come stay with her again. He let her know he was actually already on the way, so she left the door unlocked for him.

When Kip arrived, she was out on the balcony smoking a cigarette. He took one from the pack and lit it, eyeing her carefully.

"What's up, sis?"

Austin shrugged. "Nothing."

"Liar. When's the last time you had a smoke?"

"Maybe I'm picking up new habits." Austin sighed, taking the final drag and dropping the butt off the balcony to the ground below. "Jax came by to let me know that club voted to keep Dougie in. There was a guy here. It didn't go over very well."

"Well, what did you expect? Jax is pretty hard up for you, Aus."

She shook her head. "It wasn't like that. I didn't know he was coming over, and it wasn't like it was a date, the other guy. I mean, I thought at first it was, but then the truth came out."

"The truth?" Kip frowned.

Austin ran a hand through her hair and explained everything to Kip. He tensed throughout the explanation, knowing this had the potential for huge repercussions.

"I've got to let the MC know what's been happening, Austin. I can't keep this from them anymore. I'm already at risk of getting labeled a traitor."

"Please, Kip. Not yet. Give me time to talk to Jax – I want to explain to him first. I owe him that much."

Kip took a long drag on the cigarette. "Fine. But you tell him as soon as you can. We can't keep hiding this."

.:.

Jax shook the blonde awake when he got up the next morning. He told her she needed to be gone by the time he was out of the shower. She didn't seem too happy about it, but at least she didn't make a scene like Nikki.

By the time he made it out to the garage, a few others had already arrived. Austin was one of them and she didn't look pleased. As soon as he walked in, she slammed the toolbox she was looking in shut and approached him.

"Really, Jax? The girl from the party. That was kind of a low blow, don't you think?"

"I don't have to answer to you."

"You're right, you don't. You just have to live with that douchebag move."

"Kind of like the one you pulled last night? You know, you could have waited for things with you and me to cool down before dropping your pants for some other guy."

"It wasn't like that!" Austin exclaimed. "If you would just let me explain that to you –"

"No," Jax interrupted. "There's nothing to explain. I get it. You should just get back to work."

The look on her face was pure hurt, and for a moment Jax felt guilty. Then he remembered seeing that guy in the doorway of Austin's apartment, trying to give some semblance of protection over her, and the anger took him over again. She didn't say anything else, just did as he said and went back to her work.

.:.

She didn't even bother trying to approach him when the work day was done. She would just have to call Kip later on and let him know that he had free rein to fill the club in on the whole ordeal because Jax was never going to listen to her until someone else told him what was going on – and maybe not even then. She had told him he didn't need to be her hero and that it wasn't his job to keep her safe. She couldn't blame him for finally listening to her.

She dropped herself on the couch again, reaching for the remote to turn on the television. She flipped over to some crap TV program and let herself doze off. Of course, if it wasn't one thing, it was another; her phone rang, breaking her away from her nap. Yawning, she flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Hey Austin."

She shot into a sitting position. "Mom?"

"Yeah, it's me. How are you, baby girl?" her mother asked.

"I'm doing all right. You got my message then?"

"Yes, I got it. Listen, you shouldn't leave me messages anymore, okay? I'll see the missed call and get back to you as soon as I can."

Austin frowned. "Are you all right, Mom? What's going on there?"

"Lance is still around. Don't worry, he doesn't do anything to me, he just gets real angry if I talk about you. I had to get my phone replaced after he heard your voicemail."

"I'm sorry. I didn't even know he was still with you."

"I know what he did to you, and that you feel like it's my fault. Your father came to me at the club and told me what Kip told him. Austin, you've got to talk to these cops. They can protect you."

Austin sighed and put a hand on her face. "You don't worry about that, okay? Maybe you need to get away from him though. He isn't exactly the picture of morality."

"And I am?" her mom laughed. "Look, I know we haven't ever had a close relationship, Aus, but you're still my daughter. Before Lance, we were getting to be at least civil. I want you to take care of yourself, and to do that, you need some serious protection."

"Don't worry, Mom. I've got it. The MC looks out for me." She paused. "I'm going to come back one day, and you and I will … work on working things out."

Her mother chuckled. "All right. I love you, Austin."

Austin was shocked. She couldn't _ever _remember her mother saying that. "I love you too, Mom."

They disconnected the call, and Austin sat on the couch mulling the whole thing over. Her Mom had to know something more from Lance to even bother to make a call and see that she was protected. Maybe the situation at hand had grown more serious than she even knew.

"Enough," she said out loud. "Enough."

She grabbed for her keys, not bothering to lock the apartment behind her. She was just going to have to make Jax listen to her. If he wouldn't, she would find Kip and they would take it to the club together.

No one was in the garage or the office when she arrived, so Austin went right for the clubhouse. She called for Jax but he didn't answer. She went for the bedroom but he wasn't even there.

"The one time I actually come looking for him …" she muttered to herself. She went back out to the hallway, only to literally bump into Dougie.

"Shit, I'm sorry," he said.

"It's fine. Have you seen Jax?"

"He's not here?" Dougie asked, an evil grin starting to form on his face.

Austin shook her head. "I have to find him."

"Wait, wait, wait." Dougie gripped her arm, pulling her back to the bedroom. "I may not have this opportunity again."

"I know who you are, Dougie. I know why you came here and you won't get away with it."

"I can make anything look like it's your fault. The club voted me back in; I have the benefit of the doubt."

"Fuck you." She spit in his face and tried to run, but his grip was much stronger than she expected. He backhanded her and threw her to the ground.

"You're going to pay, Austin. You can't just beat the shit out of someone and expect there not to be consequences. I'm going to finish what my father started."

He leaned over her and started working on her belt. Austin yelled, but he only hit her again. She kept yelling just the same, intent that she wasn't going to have this happen again.

When Dougie went to undo his own pants before he even unbuttoned hers, the zipper stuck and he was momentarily distracted with both hands working on the zipper. Austin kneed him in the groin, pulled the gun from the back of her waistband and pointed it at him.

"I am _not _going through this again!" she yelled. "You piece of shit, you don't just get to decide to … fucking …"

Austin didn't know where she was going with that, so she just kept the gun pointed at him. Dougie started to get up, but she brought the gun down hard across his face.

"You stupid bitch!"

She kicked him in the face, and he fell to the ground again. She kicked him over and over; she had done serious damage this way once before, no reason she couldn't do it again. She cursed him out loud, yelling some things that didn't even make sense as the tears started to fall. All the months of anger and keeping her secret in came out in tears and violence.

Dougie was starting to become a blur, and she wasn't sure if it was from her tears or from stomping his face. Austin wondered why her energy wasn't dwindling and she could only gather that it stemmed from all that anger.

Her tears had progressed to sobs when strong arms grabbed her from behind. A familiar, comforting voice told her quietly that she had to stop, that everything was all right now.

"Let go of the gun, Austin," Jax told her, taking it from her grasp and putting it in his own pocket. Dougie groaned from the floor and Austin lurched at him again. Jax kept his hold on her though, hugging her tight until finally she turned into his chest and threw her arms around his neck.

"Don't go anywhere," she begged. "Please."

"I'm not," Jax promised. "I'm here."

He walked them out to the main room to get away from Dougie and sat her down on the couch. Keeping one arm around her, he called Clay, alerting him that there was a situation and they might need a body moved.

When her sobbing subsided, Jax held her face in his hands and wiped the last few falling tears away.

"What were you doing here anyway?"

"I wanted to talk to you about last night."

Jax let her face go and stood. "I don't want to hear about last night, Austin. I don't want to hear anything that has to do with you and that guy."

"If you would listen to me, you might feel differently about that."

"Whether you want to admit it or not, we have something and you –"

"This has nothing to do with us, Jax," Austin interrupted him in a stern, almost angry tone. "It has nothing to do with you and me."

"Then what does it have to do with? You and that guy?"

"The Sons," she said. "It has everything to do with the Sons."

Now she had his full attention.

.:.

They waited for the rest of the MC to arrive and all gathered in the chapel. Austin had asked that Gemma be included, too, and they agreed. She sat between Jax and Clay with Kip standing nearby as well.

"It's not the shortest explanation," she warned them.

"It's all right," Clay assured her. "Tell us everything."

Austin took a deep breath. "A few months before I left Carolina, my mom started dating this random guy. I didn't recognize him from the strip club or her usual hang-outs, but she told me he was a customer. He came home with her one night and just stayed. And my mom let him, no questions asked.

This guy, Lance Stern, liked to drink about as much as my mom liked to be high. There were some nights when he would get ridiculously drunk before she got home from work. Once, he tried to put his hands on me. I fought him off, of course, and when he was convinced I wasn't giving it up, he got violent. I should have left then. I had always told myself that no matter the situation, I wasn't going to stick around some guy who thought he was a man because he could hit a woman. It was almost a shock though, I don't know why.

So I stayed. Maybe to protect my mom, maybe to pretend it didn't happen. I really don't know. Anyway, it went like that every couple of weeks. My mom tried to talk to him, but it didn't do any good. Kip had given me this handgun, just in case, before he left and I kept it locked up in my closet. After Mom talking to him didn't make a difference, I moved it to my nightstand.

Then, about two months ago, I was asleep and he busted into my room. He pulled me out of the bed by my hair and literally ripped my pants off. Told me the matter was no longer up fro discussion and because I had made him wait for it, he was going to take his time. By the time I squirmed over to the nightstand, he already had his fingers inside me.

I got a hold of the gun, cocked it, and put it to his head. He stopped what he was doing but didn't move his hand. I moved the gun down to his arm and told him if he didn't remove his fingers I was going to shoot his arm off and remove them for him. He backed off, I found another pair of pants and managed to get them on and get my keys without anything happened. I was a pretty angry person anyway, but that just made it so much worse. I slipped into my boots and literally kicked the shit out of him. I broke bones, I fucked up his face. While he was passed out, I packed my shit and went to the police station. I told them exactly what happened, then they had me sit in a room for four hours until some FBI hotshot came in."

"Oh fuck," Tig breathed.

"Yeah. Apparently Lance was an informant – and a registered sex offender. When they couldn't get anyone in Charming to rat on the Sons, they started looking for other connections. Nothing was coming up, but then they got to Kip. Kip Epps, the prospect who had an illegitimate half-sister back in Carolina who he'd been close with and still talked to on a regular basis."

Jax frowned. "They set you up?"

"They set me up," Austin confirmed. "They knew what Lance was about and figured that some mid-twenties, unstable girl with daddy issues would fall for his whole act and give up information about the MC. I never gave Lance the opportunity to get that close to me to talk about Kip, so they left me out as bait, knowing that he would eventually do something that would drive me to the cops.

Feds told me that if I came out here, I would have guaranteed protection. All I had to do was give up the club."

Jax pushed out of his chair. "Fuck me, Austin. We all trusted you!"

She shook her head and gripped his arms, forcing him to look at her. "You don't understand, Jax. After two weeks, Charming was home. I was connected to all you guys and you became my family. I couldn't turn my back on the first real family I'd ever had. So, I called the FBI and told them to call off my police watch. I told them I wasn't going to rat on hard-working, honest people and that they could shove their little investigation up their asses."

"Really?" Jax asked skeptically.

"Word for word. Then, as soon as I could afford it, I got out of the clubhouse so that if they were still watching me, it wouldn't interfere with whatever the MC has going on. I know they called off my protection though, because no one was supposed to know I was here but two days after I called them, Dougie knew where I was."

"Where does he tie in?" Bobby questioned.

"Lance and Dougie Stern. Father and son. My best guess is that Dougie found out what I did to his dad and came out here to find me for retaliation. Pretty sure he's the one who sent those Mayans, too. When I got here earlier and he realized we were alone, he told me that there were consequences for the things I had done, and that he was going to make me pay."

"What happened to Lance anyway?"

"He's an informant, and I guess the FBI felt like he got his when I beat the shit out of him. All I know is that he's still living with my mom."

"All right," Clay said. "Juice, Bobby, Tig. Get Dougie to the hospital. Tell them he's been gone for a week and we found him like that. If he lives, we'll deal with him then. In the meantime, we need to figure out if the feds are still on Austin or not."

"Chibs and I will go see Unser, see what he knows," Opie spoke up.

"Fine," Clay said. "Let's all get out of here, get some rest."

As everyone dispersed, Gemma beelined for Austin, hugging the younger woman fiercely. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know how you'd react. By the time we were close, I thought it was all done."

"But when Dougie showed up …"

"I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want anyone to have suspicions. I didn't want to interfere in the club's business."

Gemma hugged her again. "No more secrets, sweetheart. We can't take care of you if we don't know what to protect you from."

Austin nodded. "I promise."

"Good girl."

Gemma left with Clay; Austin felt someone's hand slide through hers, interlacing fingers. She looked to her left and there stood Jax. She couldn't describe the relief she felt just in having him there with her.

"Jax, I'm so sorry …"

He shook his head. "Not here. Let's get you home and we'll talk, okay?"

Austin nodded. She allowed Chibs to check out her face and her ribs to make sure none of her injuries were exacerbated, then accepted the helmet from Jax and got on the back of his bike while he drove them to her apartment.

**A/N: Well, it's out in the open now. Next chapter will have Jax and Austin talking things over for themselves and deciding where to go. Can't promise to have it up tonight but I will get it going ASAP for you guys! Thanks for reading and for the reviews!**


	10. Chapter 10

Although Austin wanted to sit down and talk things out right away, Jax insisted she take a shower and calm down first.

"Give yourself a chance to breathe first, Aus."

She knew he was right. And, after having Dougie's filthy hands on her, she'd be back to washing herself multiple times for a while, she guessed. It had passed before, it would pass again.

Once out of the shower, she put on the SAMCRO shirt Jax had put her in the night of the Mayan attack and her favorite pair of sweats. She braided her hair, securing it with an elastic band before walking back to the living room. Jax was seated on the couch, elbows on his knees and head in his hands.

"Are you still mad at me?" she asked.

Jax looked up and sighed. "Tell me why that guy was here."

Austin took a deep breath and sat next to him. "He was a fed. I didn't know that when he came to ask me out. I had just come from work, seeing that blonde leave the clubhouse, and I wanted to get back at you. So I said I'd go out with him. Something wasn't right about it though; he kept asking all these questions about me, what I was doing here in Charming, about Teller-Morrow, about my connections to the club. I didn't tell him anything that wasn't common knowledge, just thought maybe he was some wannabe prospect or something. Then, we got back here and, just before you showed up, his badge fell out of his pocket as he stood up from the couch."

"Smooth operator," Jax snorted.

"I know," Austin smiled. "That was their last ditch effort to get me to spill what I knew about the MC. What gets me is that they think I'll spill so easily, and they think I know what they want to know."

"They're sneakier than you think. They'll use any little thing and run with it."

"I know," she replied, taking a deep breath. "You have to understand, all of this is why I pushed you away. I couldn't be the reason SAMCRO got shut down."

"I get that. You did a good job pushing me away."

Austin's breath caught in her throat and the unfamiliar sting of tears formed behind her eyes. "Did I push you too far?"

He looked over to see her teary eyes and shook his head. His hands cradled her face, and her eyes closed with an overwhelming sense of relief. Jax smiled. This was how it was supposed to be – with a girl coming out of nowhere and turning him from hardened outlaw to a big softie whenever he looked at her.

"I really am not a crybaby, but somehow you've probably seen and heard me cry more than anyone in my whole life," Austin chuckled.

Jax laughed quietly. "Yeah, I know. That tough girl thing is one of many things I like about you."

"Kind of had to grow on you though, huh?"

"Nah," Jax said, wrapping his arms around her and laying her head on his chest. "You know, that feeling I had about you, Austin, when you first came to Charming … I thought it was so negative because I didn't want you there. Because you were trouble."

"But I was trouble. I was coming to rat you out."

"Well, you changed your mind on that. The truth's out now. And, over the last few weeks I've realized that I wasn't angry you were around; I was scared. I guess somehow I knew you were going to break me."

She looked up at him and smiled. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to all this vulnerable honesty."

He grinned back at her. "Trust me, baby. Being an old lady, wanting to know what you want know, you're going to get a lot of honesty you don't want to hear."

Austin raised her eyebrows, a smirk on her face. "Old lady?"

"Am I wrong?" Jax asked, pulling her closer.

"Well," Austin replied, "I don't know what Kip's going to say."

"I think," Jax said, brushing his lips against hers, "that your brother is just going to have to deal with it."

With that, he pressed his lips fully against hers. Finally, there was no hesitation for either of them. With no more secrets, no more hiding, Austin felt like she was free to let herself be as involved in the club life as Jax would let her.

.:.

She woke up the next morning and, feeling the weight of someone's arm over her hip, panicked slightly. She took a deep breath, and his now familiar smell filled her nose. The panic resided and she pushed herself back against his chest.

Jax groaned and rolled to his back. "What time is it?"

"Time to wake up," Austin answered. She sat up and threw her legs over the side of the bed before being pulled back under the covers.

"Don't go yet," Jax smiled, kissing her neck. "Let's be late."

Austin laughed. "Why so I can stay here and get naked with you?"

"Exactly," Jax answered.

She laughed again and kissed him fiercely, rolling over so that she was straddled over him. Jax pushed his fingers through her hair, tugging a little bit and eliciting a moan from Austin. She dug her fingers into his chest and let her lips linger before coming up for air.

"Except that I have a lot of work to do at the garage," she said, scooting off of the bed from the other side and heading for the bathroom.

Jax growled, sitting up. "That's just unfair. That really was a low blow, Aus."

She simply smiled at him. "I'll be ready quick. You can give me a ride to work with you."

Jax nodded in agreement, then got out of bed and pulled on his pants. He'd never wanted someone so bad in his life. This one, though, he wouldn't rush. He would take his time and let her know he wasn't just in it for a piece of ass.

"Oh fuck," he muttered to himself. "That's never happened."

She really was turning him into a fucking softie.

.:.

They rode onto the Teller-Morrow parking lot amidst a chorus of hoops and hollers. Apparently no one had missed out on the fact that once Jax took Austin home the night before he didn't come back – not that they expected him to return.

Kip met them first, smiling at his sister the way only big brothers can smile at little sisters to make them blush. Austin's cheeks did indeed tinge pink.

"Give it up, Kip," she said. "You knew this was coming."

He laughed and hugged her. "Of course I did, but now that it's actually happened, it's even better."

"I'll leave you two to your discussion," Jax said. "I need to go talk to Gemma."

He laid a sweet kiss on Austin's lips before walking away, giving Kip even more ammo to make fun of her. She swatted at him, but he dodged the strike.

"I just hope you were safe," Kip teased. "I don't know if the world could take any more Tellers at this point in time."

Austin rolled her eyes. "That didn't happen, so you don't need to worry."

Kip frowned. "It didn't?"

Austin turned to him and spoke quietly. "Kip, in the last three months, I've had two guy try and force themselves on me. Thank God they didn't go all the way with it, but I about had a heart attack just waking up in bed with Jax this morning."

Kip's expression turned serious, and he squeezed her shoulder. "All right, sis. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed that issue."

Austin shrugged. "You didn't push it, I'm just setting the record straight from the beginning."

Kip nodded. "Fair enough. Now, let's get in the garage. I can think of a few other guys who'd like to give you some shit about this."

.:.

Gemma was leaned back in her chair, smirking, when Jax walked in. He had that look of a little boy who wants his mother to be proud of him but doesn't want to brag.

"About time you and that girl worked things out," Gemma said.

Jax nodded. "Yeah, I think you're right. I was so wrong about her. I should have seen what was going on a lot sooner."

Gemma shook her head. "There's no way you could have known. Austin is obviously pretty good at hiding what needs to be hidden and playing a role when necessary. That's what makes a good old lady."

"Yeah. She about jumped out of her skin when we woke up this morning."

"Why?" Gemma asked. "What did you do?"

Jax snorted. "What makes you think it was my fault? I think she's just not used to it."

"Don't rush her, Jackson," Gemma warned. "She's gone through a lot in the last few months. You're liable to push her away if you move things too fast."

"I'll be careful, I promise," Jax replied, pushing from the chair and kissing her on the cheek. "I better get to work."

"Hey, I need you to go by storage for me today. Luann's got a couple of boxes in there that she needs. They've got her name on them."

"All right, I'll take them over there."

"Thanks, sweetheart."

Jax walked back outside, heading for the garage. A few of the guys gave him shit about Austin, but she quickly piped up, reminding them that she was there and they could all shut their mouths – but she said it with a smile.

"I've got to go to the storage unit later on for Gemma," Jax told her. "Think Kip can give you a ride home?"

"Sure," she shrugged.

He resisted the urge to kiss her in front of everyone and went to his own work. There would be plenty of time later for kissing her.

.:.

"Think you can get that oil change done before you get out of here?" Clay asked Austin as the sun was setting.

Austin nodded. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"All right. I need to send the guys on some club business but that car's got to be ready to go first thing in the morning. Gemma will take you back to our place after you're done, that way you girls can talk … whatever it is you girls talk."

"All right, Clay. Y'all be safe."

"Always," he answered, kissing her forehead.

Austin grabbed a rag and an oil pan and rolled a creeper over to the car Clay had pointed out. Oil changes were an easy task. While she waited for the oil to drain, her phone rang. She wiped her hands on the rag and reached for it.

"Wondered when I'd hear from you," she smiled.

"Yeah," Jax replied. "I was at the storage unit longer than I thought, I guess. I'm headed to meet Clay and them. Can you have Gemma take you home?"

"Clay already talked to me about it. I'm doing an oil change, then Gemma's taking me to her place to wait for you guys."

Jax sighed. "All right. I'll see you later on."

"You okay?"

"Sure," he answered. "Just fine, darlin'. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"All right. Be careful."

"Of course."

He ended the call without saying anything else, and Austin frowned. She'd been around Jax long enough now to know when he was out of sorts. There was nothing she could do about it just then, so she went back to the oil change.

.:.

Jax pulled up next to Clay in the driveway, letting out a deep breath as he removed his helmet. What was supposed to be a simple business meeting with the Mayans had turned into all hell breaking loose. Blood that wasn't necessary had been spilled, and not just from the Mayans.

"Neither of these women is going to be too happy," Clay told him. "Better let me tell them what happened."

Jax gave him a look just short of a glare and walked up to the house, holding his side. Austin had heard the bikes pull up, so she was waiting for him just inside the door.

"What happened?" she asked, smile immediately turning to a frown.

Jax looked to Clay and pushed back to the bathroom. Austin didn't wait for Clay's explanation as Gemma did; she went after Jax.

"I don't want to hear from Clay," she demanded as she helped him off with his cut and his hoodie. "I want _you _to tell me what happened."

Jax winced as she lifted his shirt to see where the bullet had grazed the side of his abdomen. Her eyes went to his, full of panic and worry.

"Jackson, are you all right?" Gemma demanded as she approached the bathroom.

"I'm all right, Mom. Austin's going to patch me up, then we'll go back to her place to get some rest. Don't worry, all right?"

Gemma told Austin where to find the first aid supplies, then did the hardest thing for a mother – especially Gemma Teller – to do. She went back to the kitchen to wait with Clay. Had it been any other girl, Gemma might not have been able to leave, but she trusted Austin and knew that her son was in good hands. Jax would always be her baby, but she had to let Austin have her moments if she wanted Jax to stick it out with this girl.

"Close that door," Jax instructed Austin.

"You're going to have to hold your shirt up," Austin told him.

Jax waited a few seconds while she began to clean the wound, then took a deep breath. "We were supposed to be meeting the Mayans on some business with the guns. Needless to say, it got ugly. Alvarez thinks we're holding out on giving him a good deal."

Austin frowned. "Are you?"

Jax shook his head. "We don't keep the peace that way. The shooting didn't last long, but I kind of walked into this pushing Ope out of the way."

"I guess your cut was out of the way, but I'm amazed that it got through your hoodie and your shirt and only grazed you."

"Don't let this freak you out, Aus. I'm going to be fine."

"This isn't the first time I'm patching you up," she reminded him. "Just because I'm worried doesn't mean I'm freaking out."

Jax smirked and tilted her chin towards him. "You're kind of adorable when you care."

Austin rolled her eyes but accepted his kiss. "Now sit still or I'll never finish this."

Jax did as he was told. When she was done, he inspected the bandages for himself and was impressed. "Maybe we should send you to nursing school or something."

"Fat chance," Austin said. "My school days are over."

She reached for the door but Jax caught her hand. "Listen, when we get back to your place, there's something I want to show you. Something I found in storage today."

Austin wasn't sure what he was talking about, but apparently she was going to find out. "All right."

"And I'm telling you this now because I need to not be around Gemma and Clay just now. I need to make it quick, getting out of here, and I need you to play along."

"All right," she replied slowly. "Everything's okay though, right?"

"We'll see," Jax answered, opening the bathroom door.

**A/N: I apologize for the delay between updates! And this one is kind of slow. I tried to get some fluff in there with Austin and Jax, but more will come. And, inevitably, more drama will come, too. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

Austin shut the door to the apartment behind them and locked it. Jax sat at the table in the dining area and dropped a thick stack of pages on the table in front of him. Austin peered over from where she stood to read it.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SAM CROW.

HOW THE SONS OF ANARCHY LOST THEIR WAY.

BY JOHN THOMAS TELLER.

She frowned. "Your dad wrote this?"

Jax nodded. "Everything that the Sons are, Austin, that's never what my dad meant for it to be. The more that I read, the more it seems like none of the first nine meant for it to be this way."

Austin pulled the manuscript in front of her and flipped through the pages, skimming passages here and there. _If I was wronged by anyone, in or out of the club, I had to be compensated. Money or blood. There was no turning the other cheek. When relationships become a ledger of profit and loss, you have no friends, no loved ones; just pluses and minuses. _She read the words in her head, then closed the book.

"Jax, this was another time. Your dad couldn't have known what the club would eventually do – or even _have _to do to survive."

He shook his head. "But he could see it coming. Don't you get it? Everything that I am today is everything my father didn't want me to be."

She took a deep breath and took a few steps to where he sat. She sat down in his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the soft spot behind his ear.

"Jackson, you are a good man. You take care of your family, you look out for your club. I don't know many other men who call themselves men and truly deserve the title, except for the men in SAMCRO. You are part of something that is maybe not what it was supposed to be, but it's become an entity of strength." She took a deep breath. "I think you need to at least talk to your mom about this, if not Clay too."

He pushed her gently off his lap and stood. "See, you _don't _get it. If you did, you'd see that I can't talk to them – everything that my father said was wrong with the club is not only what I am, but Gemma and Clay are the epitome of it! You haven't been around long enough to see the way they keep everyone on such a short leash … do you know they would have me killed if I questioned even the littlest bit how the club is being run? They'd say I was a traitor and they'd get rid of me. That's what happens to traitors, Austin."

She shook her head fervently. "I don't believe it. That's not how a family works."

"You're so naïve!" Jax yelled. "It's how _this _family works. You don't believe it because you don't realize how close you were to that fate. Do you know if we had found out that you were a rat before you came clean, you'd be dead by now? For all either of us knows, they're plotting to kill you just to be on the safe side. Rats and traitors don't survive in this world, and because of that, you can't trust anyone. Maybe I'm just here to find the right moment to kill you in your sleep. Give you a sense of security and then deliver the blow when you least expect."

Her open hand came up in his peripheral vision and landed with a loud slap across his cheek. Her chest was heaving and her face was red with anger.

"Then get the hell out of here," Austin told him through clenched teeth. "Get. The. Fuck. Out."

Jax picked up the manuscript from the table and walked calmly out of the apartment. Austin watched him go, not finding it too hard to believe that it had only taken them a couple of days to get in a fight like that – especially considering what they were fighting over. She didn't think for one minute that the Sons were out to get her, but Jax had some nerve, turning his issues around on her.

.:.

He sat on the roof of the clubhouse with a flashlight, reading over the words that his father had written so long ago. He wished the old man was still around to answer his questions – to show him the damn manuscript so that Jax didn't have to just stumble on it and wonder what in the hell his life meant now.

Heavy boots stepped up the ladder to the roof, so Jax closed the book and shove it quickly under his cut. A sigh of relief escaped him when Opie appeared and sat next to him.

"What are you doing up here?" Opie asked. "Shouldn't you and Austin be getting noise complaints from her building manager by now?"

Jax smirked. "Yeah, maybe for yelling at each other too loud."

"You're fighting already?"

"Well, it's me and Austin. What can you expect, right?"

Opie nodded. "Fair enough. You all right, brother?"

"I don't know, Ope. Starting to wonder if maybe some things are just better left unknown."

Opie frowned. "What, like all of Austin's shit?"

"No, not that." He considered showing Opie the book, but couldn't do it. Opie had been in deeper than ever with SAMCRO since his wife Donna's death – exactly what Jax had been thinking of when he said those things to Austin – and he wasn't sure if his best friend was still the same man. "Just shit about JT."

"I thought you were over that."

"He was my dad, Ope. Clay's fine and all, I just … wonder what might be different if he were here, I guess."

"Don't let that kind of thing get to you, man. Can't change the past or the present."

Jax nodded. "You're right. Guess I better go make up with my old lady."

Opie laughed. "So weird hearing that from you."

Jax chuckled. "It is, isn't it?"

.:.

Austin settled into the warm bath and closed her eyes. She didn't indulge herself too often, but tonight had certainly called for some laid-back music and a bubble bath to release her tension before she went to bed.

She had only been soaking for a few minutes when she heard the lock on the door click and seconds later heard the door close. She sat in the tub frozen; damn Jax and his boost to her paranoia.

The rustlings in the living room lasted less than a minute before a shadow appeared in the hallway, headed in her direction. No time to hide or go for the gun Gemma had so graciously gotten back from Clay and returned to her. She couldn't even breathe.

Her lungs released only when Jax appeared in the doorway. She closed her eyes and threw her head back, rejoicing in the fact that she wasn't going to die tonight.

"You scared the shit out of me."

"I'm sorry," he replied quietly. "I should have announced myself I guess."

Austin nodded. "I guess so. What do you want? Waiting for that opportune moment to rid the club of its latest rat infestation?"

"That's not fair," Jax argued, taking a seat on the edge of the tub. "I was angry, you know that. None of us would ever hurt you, Austin."

"So what do you want?"

"To apologize, for starters. I shouldn't have said what I did, even if I was angry."

"Well," she said. "I'm sorry I wasn't more understanding. I could have listened better."

Jax reached out to wipe a cluster of bubbled from her arm. "I went to the clubhouse and was on the roof. I was reading what my dad wrote and Opie found me. I didn't even want to tell him what I found. That's when I realized not only that you're the only person I really trust right now, but that I've never trusted another woman except for my mom – and even then it's sketchy sometimes. I know we're bound to fight, Aus, but … I don't know. I need us to try a little harder right now though. I've got all this stuff in my head and if I keep it to myself, shit will hit the fan."

Austin nodded. Maybe she didn't understand everything about the club situation, but she understood that Jax having that much trust in her was a big deal. For that, she didn't worry about the bubbles covering her chest or not as she leaned forward, beckoning him for a kiss.

Jax obliged her, balancing himself with a hand on either side of the tub. She transitioned to her knees, wrapping her arms around his neck and winding one hand in his hair. His hands moved from the balancing position to the small of her back, digging in when she playfully bit at his bottom lip.

"Austin …" he breathed.

His tone was full of desire and question. The things Lance and Dougie had put her through were on his mind, and she couldn't have been more grateful to him for that.

"All we can do is try," she answered. "And holy hell, do I want to try."

One end of Jax's mouth turned up in a grin as she once again claimed his lips, and this time with more fervor. Her tongue wrestled with his; Jax couldn't get her out of that bathtub fast enough.

The water sloshed over the edge and out onto the floor and his clothes. With one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back, he carried her to the bedroom and laid her back on the bed. Austin pulled his shirt over his head and her hands immediately went to abdomen, careful of the place where the bullet had grazed him earlier that same evening. He lowered himself between her legs, resting his weight on his elbows.

It was all fine until he moved one hand down to cover her breast. Her muscles tensed first, then her lungs seemed to stop working while her heart beat faster than she'd ever felt it. She shoved him away, sitting up into a tripod position to try and catch her breath.

"Austin, breathe, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Hands off, okay?" Jax said, holding his hands up in surrender. He pulled the blanket so that it was covering her and watched as she struggled to regain a normal breathing pattern. It killed him that he couldn't hold her, for fear it would only make things worse. He had set this off and now all he could do was wait and watch while she tried to forget whatever images were in her mind.

Finally, a couple of minutes later, she opened her eyes again and seemed to be breathing normally. Embarrassment shined through in bright red all over her face, and she looked at Jax, completely mortified.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized. "I thought it would be okay. I trust you, Jax, I do, I just … you put your hands on me and immediately the last time a man had his hands on me came back. I panicked."

"It's all right," he assured her. "Like you said, all we can do is try. Now the last time a man put his hands on you was me."

Austin nodded. "You're right. I think I'm going to get dressed."

"All right." He ventured to kiss her forehead lightly. "I'll be in the other room."

Austin waited for him to go before throwing off the blanket and going for clean jeans and a tank top. She pulled a long sleeve shirt over that, then put on her boots. She brushed and braided her hair before joining him at the dining room table.

"Can I interrupt your reading long enough to ask if you'll take me for a ride?" Austin asked.

Jax frowned with worry. "Where do you want to go?"

"Nowhere in particular," she shrugged. "I just want to go for a ride with you."

Jax had to smile; this was his kind of girl. "All right, darlin'. Let's go."

.:.

Jax stopped them in a place Austin didn't recognize, farther out from Charming then she'd been, but she wasn't scared. She asked where they were just the same, but Jax just smiled and reached for her hand.

"I'm looking for something my father wrote about," he told her.

They hiked for nearly thirty minutes before they found the right place. There, on a stone wall in red letters were the words of Emma Goldman.

"'Anarchism," Jax read aloud, "stands for liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from shackles and restraint of government. It stands for social order based on the free grouping of individuals.'"

Austin stared at it, wide-eyed. "Wow. Sounds like exactly what the club stands for."

"No," Jax replied. "This is what the club is _supposed _to stand for."

She didn't say anything else, wondering if maybe her lack of understanding and knowledge would lead to another fight. It dawned on her that being Jax's old lady wasn't just pretty words and hot moments; she had to stand by him without question, without explanation. She wasn't sure she knew how to do that at the times when it was most important; even now it was a struggle to just keep her mouth shut. Maybe she could figure out a way to talk to Gemma about it without seeming suspicious that Jax's mind was on new challenges.

And maybe Jax could help her, too. "You have to help me understand, Jax. I want to understand. I don't want to be kept in the dark. I'm not going to be one of those old ladies who just sits by and lets things happen. I'm not saying I'm your equal or anything, but … please. Help me to understand."

He reached out to pull her to him, placing a chaste kiss on her lips. "I don't know if I even understand it."

Austin sighed and put her head on his chest as they both stared at the words, reading them over and over, waiting for understanding to come.

.:.

Jax groaned as he reached for his phone on the nightstand. It had gone off three times in a row now, and it was keeping him from sleeping peacefully.

"What?" he answered.

"Is Austin with you?" Half-Sack asked.

Jax opened his eyes and looked to the girl sleeping beside him. "Yeah, why?"

"I'm coming there. I just got a call from my dad – some shit went down in Carolina and when they couldn't get a hold of Austin, they called him."

"Why would they call him?"

"She only has Austin listed as an emergency contact, but Austin had him listed as one of hers. The police need to talk to her."

Jax frowned. "Why?"

"Look, I'm on my way. We'll talk when I get there."

Jax flipped the phone shut and rolled over. He pulled Austin to him, kissing her lightly to wake her.

"What time is it?" she mumbled.

"Just after three. Your brother's on his way, said it's important. Better put some coffee on."

Austin nodded and rubbed the sleep from her eyes; Jax pulled on his clothes while she made way for the kitchen.

**A/N: Yay for new chapters! Hope everyone liked it. I do want to incorporate some of the storylines from the actual show, like John Teller's manuscript, but I'm not sure yet how major of a part they will play. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

Austin zipped her duffel bag and turned to the door. She'd known he was standing there from his smell; it wasn't soap this time, but sweat and a hard day's work – both for the garage and the club. He was leaning in the doorway, hair still tussled from sleep, giving her a skeptical look.

"Don't tell me not to go," she told him as she sat on the bed. "If my mother's in the hospital, I have to go."

Jax nodded. "I know. I wasn't going to tell you not to go. I was just going to tell you to be careful and that, you know, I'm going to miss you."

Austin let a small smile slip out as he sat next to her. "I'll miss you. And I promise, I'll be careful."

"Sure you don't want me to go?"

"No, it's all right," she assured him. "Kip wants to see his family anyway, and you need to figure out what you're going to do about the manuscript."

"I know you need to go, but I wish you didn't. I don't trust anyone else with this."

Austin kissed him, holding his face in her hands. "I'm not going away forever, you know. I have the prepaid, so you can call me whenever you want. I don't care what time it is or what I might be doing. All right?"

He kissed her again, with a fair amount of passion. "I don't know where the hell you came from or how I got lucky enough for you to want a jackass like me, but I'm damn sure we're here now."

"Me too," Austin smiled. Her phone rang and Kip's name came across the screen. She answered it and told him she'd be right out. "He's out there. I better get going. I'll call you from Jacksonville, okay?"

Jax nodded and kissed her again. "Come on, I'll walk you down."

.:.

When Kip and Austin arrived in Jacksonville, they rented a car and headed straight for the hospital.

"I'll drop you off at the front," Kip told her. "I'm going to see Dad for a little bit."

Austin nodded. "All right. You'll call Clay and let them know we got in?"

"Yep, I will."

Austin took a deep breath and stared at the hospital doors. "I have a bad feeling about all of this, Kip."

"I know," Kip answered. "Figure out what happened first and we'll go from there, okay?"

She nodded again and got out of the car. Before she went in she took another deep breath, then made way for the front desk.

"My name is Austin Epps; I'm looking for Miranda Ramirez, my mother."

The lady behind the desk punched some information into the computer and nodded. "Yes, Miss Epps. We've been waiting for you. Your mother is on the third floor, room twenty-one."

Austin didn't even bother saying thank you, just hurried for the elevator. It seemed to take forever, but once on the third floor, she followed the signs to her mother's room.

The woman had wires and tubes coming out of everywhere. Her face was blue and black and barely recognizable. One arm was in a cast, one leg was in traction. Several monitors were lined up on one side of the bed.

"Miss Epps?" someone said behind her.

Austin nodded. "Yes. Call me Austin, please. What happened? They gave my father the impression that it wasn't serious."

The doctor introduced himself as William Vaughn. "Your mother was found in an alley near Onslow Drive, severely beaten. We believe she was dumped there."

Austin turned away from the doctor and approached her mother's bedside. She took the woman's hand in hers, fighting the anger that was rising in her chest. Perhaps she and her mother hadn't ever gotten on well, but this was still her mother – this was still family. _No one _did this to her family.

"Do they know who did this?"

"I'm sorry," Dr. Vaughn replied. "No one has come forward with any information, although the police have been trying to get any information they can. An officer will be in shortly to speak with you."

"I'll be here," Austin assured him. "Is she … will she be all right?"

"It's hard to tell right now. For all we know, she was in that alley for up to twenty-four hours before she was found."

"Thank you, Doctor."

She stayed at the hospital all day, although Miranda's condition didn't change at all. Once he was gone and the door close behind him, Austin pulled the prepaid out of her bag and dialed Jax.

"Hey," he greeted.

"It's me," she answered, although he must have known. "I'm at the hospital."

"How is she?"

"Someone beat her to within an inch of her life. They're not sure right now if she's even going to live or not."

Jax paused. "You have your suspicions."

"And I'm sure they're not far off from correct."

He recognized the anger in her voice; he'd heard it directed at himself enough times before. "Aus, this is not your fault."

"Oh, I know that. Doesn't make me any less angry."

"Do you want me to come out there?"

Of course she did, but she wasn't about to tell him that. "No, stay there. You've got your own stuff to deal with. How's that going, by the way?"

"Uh, still reading," Jax answered. His vague answer told her that someone else was in the room.

"You and me are quite the pair, aren't we?" Austin smirked.

"That we are, darlin'."

"Hey, the cops are here, so I need to go. I'll call you soon."

She disconnected the call and took a seat to answer the officers' questions. She gave them what she knew about Lance, didn't think she needed to mention Dougie, and answered anything they asked about the people her mother associated with.

"We want to help you, Miss Epps," one of them told her. "But with the lifestyle your mother leads, it's difficult usually to narrow it down to one or two suspects."

Austin nodded. "I understand."

The other officer caught her gaze and gave her a stern look. "The entire department is well aware of past events involving you and Lance Stern. I understand that you may have some strong suspicions, but it's important that you let the law handle this."

_The same way they handled my problem? _she thought to herself as her eyes narrowed. "Of course, Officer."

"We're also aware of who your cohorts are," the other officer added. "It would be wise that you advise them not to take these matters into their own hands."

Austin shook her head; it always came back around to the Sons. Her mother was lying near death and all these men were concerned about was whether or not someone else was going to retaliate on whoever had done this.

.:.

Kip picked her up when visiting hours were over. He asked if she had spoken with the police, and Austin gave him the run down.

"It's fucking ridiculous," Austin spat.

"Yeah, they came to talk to Dad, too. He didn't mention that I'm in town, but I guess they'll find out soon enough. You and I are going to stay in the beach house."

Austin nodded. Of course they were; no one was going to let her stay in a room by herself with Lance loose on the town. Kip's mother would kill herself before letting Austin stay in the house, so that was their last option.

She checked the prepaid on the way, seeing that she had several missed calls from Jax. She flipped the phone shut again; she knew he was probably worried, but she didn't have anything to say right now. Her interview with the police officer had left her anger mounting by the second; she was in the mood to pick a fight. Jax was the last person she needed to be fighting with right now – for both of their sakes – so when he called again, she let the call go to voicemail.

.:.

Jax flipped the phone shut and cursed. "She still isn't answering. I'm worried she's going to do or already has done something drastic."

"She's upset," Gemma told him. "You've got to give her time to sort all of this out in her head. Her mother was finally coming around to at least being her friend. Plus, the woman has no one _but _Austin. You should be happy that you found a girl who gets these things the way you do; your lives really aren't that different."

"No," Jax said, shaking his head. "The club put this in her head. Austin never would have killed anyone or wanted to kill anyone until she came around here. She didn't know how to handle anything before, and now retaliation is what she sees. She just doesn't know how it really works – that retaliation only leads to more retaliation."

Gemma frowned. He sounded just like his father. "Jax, sweetie, there's nothing wrong with righting wrongs. You'd do the same thing if it were me."

"Not the same thing, Mom."

"I think it is," Gemma replied sternly. "And it isn't like Austin wasn't already prone to violence. She beat the shit out of that Lance guy, kicked Dougie's face into a bloody pulp – the guy really is lucky he's still alive – and I'm sure if she wasn't so tired, that crow eater bitch would have gotten a few punches, too. I know that you care about Austin, but you're fooling yourself if you think the woman you've taken as an old lady is some damsel in distress. I'm sure she lets her guard down with you, but face it: Austin can hold her own. _And_, you don't even know that she's done anything anyway."

Finally, Jax stood. "That's it. I'm going out there. I'll leave in the morning."

He kissed Gemma's cheek and shook hands with Clay. He wasn't going to let Austin one day end up with all the questions in her head that he now held in his.

.:.

The ocean breeze came in through the window, rousing Austin from a restless sleep. Knowing she would feel better if she hadn't slept at all, she forced herself out of the bed, pulled on clean jeans and a black v-neck shirt, then slipped into her boots.

"Morning," Kip greeted. "Coffee's still hot."

"Thank God," Austin muttered. "What are you doing today?"

"Crashing Dad's office," he replied. "You going back to the hospital?"

Austin nodded. "Yeah, that's my plan. Don't know what else I'd do."

"Jax called me last night."

Austin rolled her eyes. "Here we go."

"You worried the hell out of him, Aus. What did you expect?"

"I'm just not in the best mood, and I don't want to fight with him right now."

"Fair enough. But you could at least acknowledge to the poor guy that you're still alive."

"Are you going to let me take the car today?"

"Don't change the subject," Kip told her sternly. "He's on his way down."

Austin threw her head back. "Shit, Kip. Did you tell him to come down here?"

"No. He told me he was coming – he didn't ask or anything like that. You know how Jax is. He's supposed to call one of us when he gets in."

"Fair enough," Austin said. "The car?"

Kip nodded. "Take it. I'll have Dad come pick me up."

She went back down to the bathroom, washed her face and brushed her hair, pulling it into a ponytail before applying some makeup to her face. Deciding she was presentable, she grabbed the keys, bid her brother goodbye, and headed for the hospital.

.:.

It took some finagling, but charm was Jax's area of expertise. A pretty, young nurse led him to Miranda Ramirez's room. Austin was there, standing at the window and looking out over the city. He could tell just from what he could see in her reflection, she was deep in thought.

He set his bag quietly down and stood behind her. "Hey, beautiful."

She turned quickly, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. "Why do you always show up when I'm crying?"

"Why are you always crying or start to cry when I show up?" Jax smiled back at her.

"You didn't have to come," she sniffled, falling into his chest as his arms went around her.

Jax kissed her forehead. "No place I'd rather be."

.:.

Later that night, they sat on the beach. Austin hadn't said much since Jax had arrived, but it was important at first just that he was there. As they looked out over the beach, she decided to finally divulge what was on her mind.

"I keep thinking about something your dad wrote," she said. "About how wrongs had to be righted by money or blood; about the pluses and minuses. I know what happened to my mom, Jax, and I know it was because somebody had a minus for me. This back and forth could go on forever. And who would be next? My mom again? Me again? Kip, my dad? Someone else in the club, or you?"

Jax sighed. "I'm not a good person to talk to about this. My life isn't any different from that, and I don't know how to tell you to change direction from this path you're facing. I know you haven't made any choices yet, but you don't have long to decide."

"I know," she nodded.

"Whatever you decide, Aus, I'm behind you."

"I can't trust anyone else, Jax. Kip will talk me out of it. So would the rest of the MC. My dad … everyone."

Jax put an arm around her. "I'm not going to talk you out of anything you decide to do. I am going to tell you that you're right; once you start with retaliation, it's going to feel like it's never ends."

.:.

The shock of finding out her mother was in the hospital in the first place had been increased when she saw the woman and then found out exactly what happened. When Austin arrived at the hospital the next morning only to discover that Miranda had passed away.

"We tried to reach you," Dr. Vaughn assured her. "But we still didn't have a contact number for you."

Austin nodded. "That's my own fault. What happened?"

"Her body couldn't handle the damage. Perhaps if we had gotten to her sooner …" he trailed off. "But, I have to be honest, her drug abuse didn't help her overall condition. She just wasn't strong enough to survive this."

"Thank you, Doctor."

The hospital had Austin sign some papers, and then she and Jax were back on their way. Austin paused behind the wheel, taking a deep breath.

"Do you want me to drive?" Jax offered.

Austin shook her head. "No, I can drive. You know what this means, right."

Jax let out a slow, deep breath. "I figured as much."

Austin nodded. "Let's go to the strip club. I want answers."

**A/N: Uh-oh, Austin's angry! Lol. I'm not thrilled about this chapter, but I needed some transitional scenes … there's a lot more coming up. Thinking about a sequel, but not quite sure. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! **


	13. Chapter 13

Jax watched her cautiously as she drove them down the main drag to the strip club where her mother had worked.

"You sure there's going to be someone at the place right now?" he asked her. "It's still kind of early in the morning."

Austin shook her head. "That place goes twenty-four-seven. Someone will be there, and if they don't have my answers, I'll come back later."

"Did she work during the day?"

"Damn it, Jax. What the fuck is with all the questions?"

"Look, I'm not trying to piss you off any more than you already are. Trust me on that. When was the last time you went questioning people though? Aus, I'm behind you whatever you do, but you have to be logical and practical about this. If Miranda didn't work during the day, no one there is going to know what was going on."

Austin glanced at him, then got into the turn lane. "Fine. We'll go to the house."

Jax reached for her hand, squeezing it. He wanted to tell her this was a bad idea, but even he had to admit that he wasn't entirely sure it was. Eventually Lance and Dougie would have to be dealt with; if Austin was so intent on doing things herself, at least he was there with her.

When they pulled up to the broken-down trailer, Austin turned off the ignition. She sat and stared at it for a few seconds, then turned to Jax.

"In case I forget to say it later, or don't get a chance or whatever … thank you for coming out here. You really didn't have to," Austin told him. "Whatever happened with us at the beginning, Jax, and no matter how we fight now, I know that no one else could tolerate me."

Jax smirked. "You're probably right about that."

She kissed him quickly, and Jax felt the sentiment of the moment disappear. She'd said it then because she was drawing back into herself – detaching so that she could do what she needed to do. Jax recognized it because he had been there so many times himself.

The front door was unlocked. Austin took a deep breath and pushed it open, her breath catching in her throat as she took in the blood spattered over the walls and furniture.

"Good God," she muttered. "He really threw her around."

"You sure he's not here?" Jax asked.

Austin shrugged. "Car's not out there."

"Stay with me, just the same."

"It's not a big place. Not many places to hide."

Jax gave her a look that clearly said the discussion was over. Rolling her eyes, Austin moved to one end of the trailer where the bedrooms were. The door to her mother's room was closed, but the door to her room was open. Holding her breath, Austin walked in.

She expected it to be just as she left it, and in some ways it was. The bed covers were pushed to the side, clothes were laying on the floor from when she had desperately tried to find a pair of jeans to put on after Lance took his hands off of her. The stain of blood was even still on her carpet from when she fought back.

But some things were different. Everything had been knocked off the dresser. Drawers were pulled out of her dresser and nightstand. Papers she had stowed away for safe keeping were piled on the bed.

"He must have tried to find out where you'd go," Jax commented.

Austin nodded. "I guess so."

"This is her room here?"

Austin nodded again. She walked behind Jax as he turned the knob and opened the door. Both of them frowned at the ropes tied to the bedposts.

"Fuck," Austin breathed, reaching out to touch one as though it was a snake. "This explains the marks on her wrists and ankles."

Austin stared at the bed, the blood marked on the pillows and comforter. She could only imagine the abuse her mother must have taken, but she didn't want to.

"I should never have left. This is my fault."

Jax shook his head. "No, Austin. It could have been you instead of her."

"Why would that be such a bad thing?" she argued. "My mother was horrible. She was never there when I needed her, and I more or less raised myself. Do you know how much of a wonder it is that I'm not a doped-up stripper myself?"

"You can't blame yourself for this," Jax insisted. "We can't carry the things our parents did or should have done."

She whipped around to face him. "Tell that to yourself next time you pick up that fucking manuscript that JT wrote, Jax. You know it isn't so easy to just dismiss this. The last time I spoke to my mom, she told me that she loved me for the first time in my whole life. All I'm saying is, someone took away the chance for me to finally have a mom, not just a mother. And I can't just let that go."

She walked back outside, leaving Jax in her wake to wonder exactly what was going to come next.

.:.

"Hey Clay, we got a problem," Tig announced as he walked into the garage. "Unser said that his people got a hold of Lance about Dougie. He's on his way to Charming."

Clay sighed. "That may be better that he's here while Austin isn't. Jax called Gemma this morning, said that Austin's mom died."

"Oh shit," Tig breathed. "Austin okay?"

"I don't know. I would imagine if she knows that Lance is here, she'll come back here right away."

"I'll call Jax."

"No, wait," Clay said, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder. "Let's let her do some digging in Carolina until we know exactly what Lance intends to do here."

Tig frowned but agreed. He wasn't always sure of Clay's reasoning or decisions, but he was sure that Clay had Austin's best interests at heart.

.:.

Kip caught up with them later that night before they went to the strip club. They had spent the day at the beach house while Austin collected her thoughts. Jax didn't ask what her plan was, just figured he would go along with this strip club lead and go from there.

"You're sure you want to do this?" Kip asked.

"Fuck!" Austin exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? If this happened to either one of you two, you wouldn't hesitate to take care of it. I'm going to say this one last time: she had _no one _else but me. I'm going to take care of this, and _yes_, I'm sure about it."

Jax and Kip shared a concerned glance, then followed Austin into the strip club. The guard stopped to ask them for IDs and cover, but Austin waved him off.

"It's all right, Tony. They're with me. Hey, when's the last time you saw Miranda around here?"

"Miranda? Damn, Austin. It's been a few days, come to think of it."

"No one asked around about her or anything?"

Tony shrugged. "Didn't ask me."

Austin nodded. "All right. Barclay in?"

"Yep, in the office." Tony frowned. "Everything all right?"

Austin considered him for a moment. "Someone beat her and left her in an alley. She died this morning."

"Oh, shit. Austin, I'm sorry …"

"Yeah, me too."

Kip and Jax flanked her as she walked through towards the back of the club. They were just about to a door marked Employees Only when one of the girls reached out and grabbed Jax's arm.

"You look like you mean business, honey," the girl purred.

Austin stepped between them. "Hands off, Daphne."

The more scantily-clad girl looked down at Austin. "Let me guess. Austin Epps finally came back to ask Barclay for a job."

"Yeah, right," Austin snorted. "Wouldn't want to take away any of your whorish income."

Kip tugged at her hand. "Come on, Aus. We're here for a reason and this ain't it."

Austin sneered once more at Daphne, then turned back to Jax and Kip. "Stupid bitch."

"What's up with that?" Jax asked. "I could've said no myself."

Austin rolled her eyes. "That person I told you I'm lucky I'm not earlier? That's Daphne. She _was _my best friend until we turned sixteen, she lost her virginity and became my mother's favorite. Daphne didn't have a mom, so she took mine. And look where that got her."

"She knows I'm Austin's brother," Kip explained. "She probably figured you two are together and wanted to push Austin's buttons."

"Yeah, well, it worked," Austin called over her shoulder as they approached the door to the manager's office. She pounded on the door until a short, burly man opened it. "They're with me."

He allowed all three of them to enter. Behind the desk sat a late fifties, grey-haired man who was smoking a cigar. His suit was pristine, and several piles of paper were stacked neatly on the desk.

"Not what you'd expect for a strip club, right?" he smiled, coming from around the desk to hug Austin. She stepped just out of his reach, and he feigned sadness. "You don't want to hug your Uncle Barclay?"

"Why didn't anyone go look for Miranda, Barclay? Tony says she's been gone for a few days."

Barclay puffed on the cigar and reclaimed his seat behind the desk. "Miranda was a junkie. If I went chasing after every junkie that didn't show up for a few days, I'd never be at work."

Austin shook her head. "That's not good enough. You _know _she never missed work. Maybe she was a junkie, but this was her only way of getting the shit. I'm asking you again: _why _didn't you go looking for her?"

He set the cigar down in an ashtray and scratched the back of his head. "All right. Here's the deal. Your mom was getting old, Austin. The drugs, they weren't helping her any. She wasn't making me any money anymore. That Lance guy she'd been seeing, he offered me ten thousand to fire her. So I did."

"You sold her out for ten _fucking _thousand dollars?" Austin asked, getting closer to the desk. "He killed her! Maybe she wasn't as good as she was before but she was loyal to you! How many times did she drag your drunk ass home and make sure you didn't die of alcohol poison or choke on your own damn vomit?"

"Many," Barclay answered. "And she was a good lay every time."

Austin jumped over the desk faster than any of them had anticipated, even Barclay's muscle man. He was the one to pull her off, although she managed to get in one more good kick to Barclay's knee, bringing him down to the floor. He sputtered as blood poured from his nose and his mouth.

Jax put his gun to the guard's head and told him to let go of Austin. He handed her over to Kip who kept a good hold on her – she was still seething and she was ready to finish Barclay off.

Jax put the gun back in his waistband. "Here's the deal. You're not going to tell anyone we were here – especially Lance Stern. If I find out that you talked to anyone, we'll come back and I'll let her finish what she started."

"Come on, Aus," Kip urged, directing her out of the office. The door slammed behind them, and they stood in that back hallway for a few minutes. "Your arm okay?"

Austin nodded. "I just need to stop hitting people with it until the cast is off and it's healed."

"Yeah, I don't see that happening anytime soon," Jax smirked. "Come on, let's get out of here."

They passed Daphne again as they made their exit, but Austin ignored her. As much as she wanted to beat the shit out of that girl, there were bigger things she had to worry about.

"Where would Lance get money like that?" Kip wondered aloud.

"Not hard to figure it out," Austin answered. "He's an informant. They probably paid it for him."

"But why would they want your mom fired from the strip club?"

Austin shook her head. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Let's go to the police station."

"You can't just show up on their doorstep asking questions," Jax warned her.

"Why not?" She looked at Kip where he was behind the steering wheel. "Drive."

.:.

Gemma cursed as she put the phone down. Clay looked up from where he was reading the newspaper at the table and raised his brow in the form of a question.

"That was Half-Sack. Jax won't let Austin out of his sight, so he's updating us. She's flippin' shit, Clay. Went in to the club where her mom worked to get answers, and that of course raised more questions. She's going straight to the fed set-up at the police department down there."

"Damn it." Clay took off his glasses. "I told Tig not to tell her that Lance was here. Maybe we need to bring her back before this goes too far."

"It's already gone too far," Gemma replied. "Austin is just as unstable as Jax when it comes to her anger – she's going to get herself in trouble, and Jax is going to go down with her."

Clay stood and put a hand on Gemma's shoulder. "Look, I'll have Tig get a hold of them and let her know that Lance is here. If Austin really is hellbent on retaliation and answers, she'll come right back. Jax will be here and have the rest of us backing him – and we're not going to let Austin go down either."

Gemma nodded. "All right. Well, do it soon. She's already raising hell down there."

.:.

Austin didn't bother stopping at the front desk, just went right back to where the FBI office was. Two officers stood in her way, telling her sternly that she was not allowed any further.

"Then put me in fucking handcuffs so those federal pricks can come visit me in a cell," she snapped back. "I want to talk to them about Lance Stern."

The two officers exchanged glances and looked back at Kip and Jax who were close behind her.

"Fine," the older one finally said. "But these two stay here."

Austin glanced back at them, and Kip nodded. "We'll wait."

She disappeared to the back and the men took chairs in the front lobby. Jax pulled his hat down and shook his head.

"I'm worried about her, man," he admitted. "Has she ever done anything like this before?"

Kip shook his head. "I don't think so. But Austin's tough. With the club backing her, she's going to be fine."

"Yeah."

"The club is backing her, right?"

"Of course," Jax answered. "We're not going to let anything else happen to your sister, Sack. _I'm _not going to let anything else happen to your sister."

His phone chirped then, so he gave Kip a reassuring glance before walking away to answer it. "What's up?"

"It's me," Clay replied. "Listen, Charming PD called Lance about Dougie. He's on his way here."

"Shit," Jax cursed. "I'll keep Austin here as long as I can."

"No. You guys need to come back here. I want the whole club behind her on this."

Jax sighed but wasn't sure he agreed. "All right. I'll let her know."

"She do much damage at the police station?"

"I don't know yet. She's back talking to the feds right now."

"What do you mean talking to the feds?" Clay demanded.

"I'll call you when we leave here." Jax shut his phone then and went back to Kip. "Lance is on his way to Charming. PD called him about the attack on Dougie. Clay wants us back in Cali so the whole club can go against whatever comes at Austin."

Kip pursed his lips. "I guess it's better to close ranks. I'll call Juice, have him work the tickets."

Jax nodded as Kip stepped outside to call Juice. Austin wasn't going to like the club's involvement in this, but he would just have to convince her it was for the best.

**A/N: Going to try and get some more Austin/Jax fluff in the next couple of chapters, so be on the lookout! Thanks for reading. **


	14. Chapter 14

If it was possible, Austin seemed more calm and yet more angry when she emerged from the back of the police station. Both Jax and Kip stood, but she just shook her head.

"They're full of shit," she stated.

Kip sighed and exchanged glances with Jax. "Let's get out to the car. We don't need to talk in here."

Austin shoved her hands in her pockets and followed them out to the car. Kip got in the driver's seat again and although Jax offered to let Austin sit in the front, she slid into the backseat without a word.

"You gonna tell us what they said, Aus?" Kip asked.

"No point. It's all fucking lies, anyway."

Jax sighed and looked at her through the rearview mirror. "Clay wants us back in Charming. They got word today –"

"I'm not going back to California until this is done," Austin told him, suddenly showing emotion again. "You two may have to listen to Clay, but I don't."

"Would you let me finish?" Jax replied, exasperated. "Lance is on his way to Charming. The hospital called him about Dougie."

Austin frowned. "You're kidding me?"

Kip shook his head. "I wish we were. Juice is already working on getting us back to California in the morning."

"Why aren't we going now?"

Jax turned around in his seat. "Chill out, all right? I told you, you can't get crazy with this if you're going to do it right."

"Or else what, you're out?" Austin snapped.

"See, that shit right there is why we aren't going now," Jax told her. "I'm not taking an angry, bitter, bitch-mode old lady on an airplane. We'll get kicked off and put on the no-fly list before we even get out of Carolina."

"Fuck you," Austin replied.

"If only I could get that lucky," Jax mumbled under his breath.

Kip pulled into his father's driveway, trying not to show his smirk at their bickering. "You two take the car down to the beach house. I'm going to spend some time with my parents before I leave. Lord only knows when I'll be back."

Austin climbed over the console and into the driver's seat. Kip warned her about speeding and promised to see them in the morning.

The drive down to the beach house was accompanied only by the sound of the loud music coming from the stereo. Jax had turned it on the moment they were back out on the main road, and Austin didn't bother turning it down or off. The scowl on her face didn't diminish at all one they got to the house, either.

Jax went into the bedroom and grabbed one of the pillows from the bed, then headed upstairs to the living room.

"What are you doing?" Austin asked.

"Sleeping on the couch."

She sighed, shaking her head. "Don't sleep on the couch, all right? I know I'm a pain in the ass all the time and that I've been a particular pain in the ass the last couple of days. You came out here to help me and I've bitched the whole time. I'm sorry."

Jax tossed the pillow back on the bed and pulled her to sit next to him. "I know you're hurting, Aus. You have a lot to be hurting over. But you have to hold it together. I'm not going to let anything else happen to you and I'm going to help you through this. Just don't start pushing me away again. All right?"

Austin nodded. "The Feds said that Miranda was involved in some big drug ring here. Said that she was dealing, prostituting … she was a go-to girl for whoever is at the head of it. She was ready to confess everything to them, give them all sorts of names and everything, so they needed to get her into witness protection. That included getting her away from Lance without him knowing. He was _always _around her, so they set it up for him to pay off Barclay and get her out of the club. They told Lance that they had to get rid of her, that she knew too much. Someone was supposed to be there to pick her up before Lance could hurt her, but he tipped Lance off to the whole thing and was mysteriously in a car accident on the way to the trailer."

"You said it was lies."

Austin nodded. "I don't want to believe that my mom was in that deep with some fucking drug lord, or that some other Fed basically sold her out to Lance and let her die. But I can almost guarantee you they sold me out to Dougie, so why wouldn't they do that to her?"

Jax shook his head. "I'm sorry, Austin. I feel like you got dragged into this because of us. Because of the Sons."

"No," Austin replied, shaking her head. "It's because they can't just let people live their lives. That's why I got dragged into this. It's my own fault. I let myself get pulled in when I went to Charming. I should have never agreed to work with them and once I decided not to, I should have come back here."

Jax smirked, pushing her hair out of her face. "If you never would have come to Charming, we never would have met. And if you would have left, I would have followed you. I've only known you for a few months, but I already know any life without you isn't a life I want."

Her anger started to ebb away and the hint of a smile played across her face. Jax smiled back, pulling her closer to him. Their kisses started slow and soft, but gradually grew in intensity. Austin crawled to her knees and straddled over his lap. She reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it off at once with his hoodie. She then reached for the bottom of her own shirt, pulling it over her head.

"Austin," Jax said hesitantly. "We have to take this slow."

She pushed him back on the bed, hovering over him. "Jax, since when do you want to take things slow?"

"Do I have to remind you about last time we tried this?"

"I'd rather just think about the part we said was important – about you having your hands on me."

Jax smirked but told himself he was going to take this step by step and pace with her. He was concerned that Miranda's death and Austin's recent decision to go after Lance for revenge were going to get her into a position with him that she would later regret.

Knowing that taking this slow was going to require that he be in control, Jax wrapped his arms around her and flipped them over in one solid move.

"Smooth," Austin giggled.

Jax smiled and kissed her again. Holy hell, he'd never get enough of kissing her. He lowered himself down over her, balancing on his elbows. He felt her tense up a little bit, so he pulled back.

"Don't stop," she begged him. "Please, Jax. I want this. I _need _this."

He nodded. "All right. Look at me. You know me, and you know I'm not going to hurt you. We can still stop at any time, but it's just me. Just me and you."

Austin took a deep breath and let it out, and then pulled him back down to her. Instead of kissing her mouth, Jax let his lips trail down her neck and over her collarbone. She took a sharp breath and he smiled against her skin. So far, so good.

He moved one hand from her hip up to her bare ribs. Her skin and her curves under his hand were almost more than he could take, but he wasn't going to ruin this for her – for either of them.

Austin leaned up to kiss the muscles of his shoulder as she reached down for the button and fly of his jeans. She undid both, taking a deep breath.

"I'm okay," she told him. "Keep going."

Jax closed his eyes as he kissed her, running his hand from her ribs over her breast. She moaned into his mouth and he smiled again as her back arched underneath him. He let his hand travel back down to her hip, sliding over to undo her jeans as well. He pushed them slowly down her legs and Austin chuckled.

"What?" Jax asked.

Austin shook her head. "Just think it's a little funny that's not the first time you've done that."

"I told you I just wanted you to be comfortable," he answered in a mischievous tone as he slipped his hand between her legs.

Austin gasped and squeezed her eyes shut tight. She quit moving and her hands dropped away from his bare back. Jax removed his hand and begged her to open her eyes.

"It's me, Austin," he told her softly. He'd repeat it a million times if he had to – whether it was this time or the next. "It's just me."

Slowly, she opened her eyes and tried to breathe again. She held his gaze and nodded as he moved his hand back down; the next gasp that escaped her throat was one of pleasure.

Not long after, Austin could no longer keep her hands to herself. She pushed Jax's pants and boxers down his legs and eagerly began returning the favor. It took all the focus Jax could muster to push her panties off her legs and move himself over her again.

"You're sure?" he asked once more.

She nodded eagerly. Jax took a deep breath and kept eye contact as he pushed inside her. Austin's fingers dug into his back. Maybe it had taken her a couple of tries to get here, but _damn_ she had needed this. She needed someone's hands to touch her when they weren't out to harm. She needed to be in arms that weren't holding her back from escaping. She needed to know that someone she cared about wasn't going to abandon her.

And Jax had needed it, too. It amazed him that there was such a significant difference between a one night stand with a crow eater and being with a girl that he not only wanted, but needed in his life. Maybe it hadn't even occurred to him fully until he started reading JT's manuscript, but in such a short time, Austin had created a safe place for him. She gave him a place to be grounded when his life overwhelmed him.

They went on for what seemed like hours. Finally, in a mess of tangled, sweaty sheets, Austin called out his name as she climaxed. Jax lasted not even a minute after that before he finished.

Chests heaving, they lay in the bed and tried to compose themselves. Austin finally smiled and looked up at him.

"I'm glad I stayed in Charming," she told him.

Jax smiled and leaned down to kiss her. "I am, too."

.:.

The next morning, Austin woke before Jax. She looked over at him still sleeping and the ghost of a smile played across her lips. For just a brief moment, she wished she could stay here forever. In Carolina, on the beach, with Jax. Away from Charming and all its bullshit. She would miss the new family she had found in Gemma and the rest of the Sons, but things here were so much simpler.

Then Austin remembered that they were only simpler there in that bed with Jax. Outside of their little beach house bubble, her mother had been sold out by the FBI and murdered by the same man who had assaulted Austin. Outside of their bubble, Lance was in Charming and every minute it took her to get back there and get rid of him was another minute that her new family was in danger.

Jax's phone rang, rousing him from sleep. Austin wrapped the sheet around her and reached over him for the phone.

"Hey," she answered. "We ready to go?"

"Yes," Kip answered. "Juice has the tickets booked, we need to be in the airport in as close to an hour as possible."

"Shit. All right, we'll meet you there." She flipped the phone shut and stood up from the bed. "Jax, come on. We've got to be at the airport in a fucking hour and it's going to take us about that long to get there."

"Fuck, and he's just now letting us know?"

"Yes, he's just now letting us know. I don't know why, so just get up and get dressed so we can get going."

"Yeah, I get it," he grumbled. "We're in a hurry."

Austin rolled her eyes. Any pretty thoughts she had about their little bubble were gone now, especially since they were apparently already on the brink of bickering – and they'd only been away for three minutes.

She dressed quickly and threw her other things into her bag. If she forgot something, so be it. Jax threw on the same clothes from the day before, grabbed his own bag and followed her out to the car.

"You're not going to lock the door?" he asked.

She got in the driver's seat and shook her head, starting the ignition. "Did you see anything in there worth taking? Everyone around here knows everybody. Tourists don't really come up this way but even if someone did try to get in the house, there's like a neighborhood watch kind of thing."

"A simple 'no' would have done the trick."

Austin groaned. "I'm not fucking doing this fighting-at-each-other's-throats shit with you this morning, all right? All this other fucking shit going on and I can't just hide in the beach house with you and be naked, I have to go fucking kill this guy. I'm worked up as it is, I'm going to say something really horrible and you're never going to forgive me. So, just … do me a favor and shut the fuck up until we're in California."

It wasn't the first time that she had gone off on Jax, but he could tell that she was so worked up, she was even having trouble giving him a good bitching out.

He tried not to laugh as he asked, "Did you basically just say that you're worked up because we can't be naked all day because you have to go back to California and kill someone?"

Austin took a deep breath and tried to be mad. When he put it that way though, it was pretty funny. As she sped up the highway, laughter overtook the scowl on her face.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'd much rather be naked with you all day, too," Jax assured her. He laced his fingers through hers and kissed the back of her hand. "It's all going to be okay, Aus. I promise."

She glanced over to give him a half-smile. Not wanting to ruin the moment, she decided it was better not to tell him that he shouldn't make promises he wasn't sure he could keep.

**A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long! I had it mostly written, but I couldn't get it quite right. I suppose this will do for now. Thanks for waiting and reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

Tensions were undoubtedly high when they arrived back in California. To avoid arguing, both Jax and Austin kept quiet, only speaking to each other when necessary and doing their best to check their attitudes with each other. Kip had to admit, he was impressed – and amused.

When they pulled back on the Teller-Morrow lot, Gemma was the first one to greet them. She hugged and kissed Jax, and then brought Austin into a fierce embrace.

"I'm so sorry, baby," Gemma cooed.

Austin shrugged, wiping a stray tear. "She was my mother, but I've got the only mama I need right here in California."

Gemma smiled and hugged her again. "Absolutely you do. You're going to get that bastard anyway."

"Who told you?" Austin frowned.

"Austin," Gemma said, putting a hand on her hip. "I know you weren't in North Carolina raising hell over funeral services for her. Even if I didn't know better, it's in your eyes. You're out for blood."

Austin drew her lips into a tight line and nodded. "Well, I guess I better check in with Clay."

"Yeah, you better," Gemma agreed. Jax started to follow her, but Gemma grabbed for his arm. "She's not going to stop till this is over."

Jax nodded. "Yeah, I'm aware of that."

"You have to protect her, Jackson. She doesn't have anyone else but you when it boils down to it."

He sighed and hugged his mother. "Mom, I know how to be a good man and take care of mine. You taught me that."

Gemma kissed his cheek. "All right, then."

.:.

Austin found Clay in the chapel. He was sitting at the head of the table, smoking a cigar. She couldn't help but smirk.

"Shouldn't you be working, old man?"

Clay shrugged, not responding to her humor. "Lots of shit going on around here, Aus."

She sobered her expression and nodded. "You're right."

"Let's talk about Lance and Dougie first. What's your plan?"

"Lance killed my mother. Dougie's not going to stop coming or sending people after me or the people close to me. He's got to be dealt with, too."

"He put his hands on a club member's old lady – on the VP's old lady. That's serious business. The club has to deal with that, too. We can't send the message that we let that sort of behavior happen."

"Fair enough," Austin replied. "But I want to be the one to finish Lance. That's my retaliation."

"Fine," Clay said. "Do it fast, Austin. I don't want this being dragged out."

She was beginning to feel fury towards this man for the first time. Clay was speaking to her as if she was a child insisting on taking part in some activity simply because that's what her friends were doing. She felt as if she was a nuisance, and that annoyed her.

"I'll get it done, Clay. You don't have to tell me anything about dragging it out."

He raised his brow. "Don't forget who put a roof over your head when you had no one else, Austin. Check your tone and put your anger bullshit aside when you're speaking to me."

Taking a deep breath, she simply nodded. "Fine. That's it then?"

"Not exactly." He reached for the chair next to him, producing John Teller's manuscript. "Gemma was looking for the storage unit keys at Jax's place while y'all were in Carolina. She found this."

Austin figured her best bet was to play dumb, so she shrugged. "What is it?"

Clay's hand came down hard on the table and startled Austin. "Don't play dumb with me, damn it. I know that Jax hasn't hid anything from you. He's not as good at keeping secrets as you are when it comes to emotional shit."

"What do you want me to say then? Yeah, I know what it is. Yeah, Jax showed it to me. What of it?"

Clay set his cigar into an ashtray and stood. "Look, Austin, I don't want to make this more difficult than it needs to be, all right? Gemma loves you unconditionally, and God knows I've thought of you like a daughter almost since you arrived. Thing about sons and daughters, sometimes they need tough love."

"How about you just get to the point, Clay."

"The Sons have done a lot for you, Austin, and my club comes first. I'm more than happy to back you on this Lance thing and to take care of Dougie. I explained to you why that needs to be dealt with. John Teller had a lot of ideas going on in his head before he died. A lot of crazy ideas. He was going to tear the club apart. If Jax has read _any _of this, he's probably getting the same ideas. It's important that we know if he gets out-of-sorts so it can be taken care of, and quickly."

Austin kept a straight face, but inside she was panicking. She knew exactly what Clay meant by "taken care of." Hadn't Jax been the one to explain it to her? _Rats and traitors don't survive in this world, and because of that, you can't trust anyone._ The words rang out in her mind as she processed the fact that Jax taking JT's words to heart might be considered traitorous.

"I'm his old lady. You can't ask me to betray him."

"The club comes first," Clay reiterated. "You owe the Sons this much. We put our lives on the line for you."

"And I didn't do the same when I called off my police watch?" Austin returned. "I know that the MC has taken risks for me. Put yourself in our shoes. What if someone asked Gemma to turn on you, and you found out about it?"

Clay gave a devilish smile and stood. He approached Austin and hugged her. "That's why Jax isn't going to find out," he whispered in her ear. "Understood?"

Austin pursed her lips before replying. "Yeah, Clay. I get what you're saying."

He released her from the hug and watched as she turned to go. "Austin."

She turned to face him. "Yes."

"Guilty by association is something we take seriously in this club," Clay said. "You know what that means, right?"

Austin nodded. She knew exactly what that meant. Her actions were being watched just as closely as Jax's were.

"I understand."

.:.

Jax walked up to the chapel just as Austin was exiting. She kissed his cheek and told him she was going to do some catching up in the garage before anything else. Jax caught her hand and frowned.

"Hey, you okay?"

She gave him a pointed look. "You're really going to ask me that?"

He shook his head. "You weren't this tense when we got here. Did Clay find out more or something?"

"Nope," Austin replied. "Just ready for all of this to be over, and then some."

He squeezed her hand. "We'll take care of it soon, all right?"

Austin nodded, pulling her hand from his. Jax watched her suspiciously as she left the clubhouse. He turned to Clay. "What's with her?"

"She's about to kill someone," Clay told him. "Maybe reality is hitting. Maybe you need to take care of it before she does."

"Austin has this in her. I know she does," Jax affirmed. "And she'd kill me if I took care of it for her."

Clay nodded. "Just as well, I suppose."

Jax nodded as well, and then his eye caught something familiar on the table. "What's that?"

Clay put his hand on the manuscript, quickly putting it back on the chair and out of view. "Just some paperwork stuff I was looking at. Don't worry about it."

Jax frowned in suspicion. "All right. I'm going to see Unser then, see what I can find out about Lance."

"Let's do this quickly, Jax. Lance and Dougie can't be just roaming around Charming."

"I get it," Jax replied.

.:.

Wayne Unser was sitting in his office when Jax arrived. He motioned for Jax to take a seat, which the younger man did after shutting the door.

"Good to see you back, Jax," Wayne greeted.

"I'll be a lot happier to be back when certain things are taken care of," Jax replied. "I need to know about Lance Stern."

Unser nodded. "Figured someone would be in here soon asking about that. Truth is Jax, I can't dig up much on him without alerting the Feds."

"What do you know since he's been here?"

"He hasn't left his son's side for very long. He asked what happened, we told him that he disappeared from the clubhouse one day and then was found in that condition."

"He has to know Austin did it – she did the same thing to him when he attacked her."

"Gemma explained everything to me."

"He sleeping at the hospital?"

"No," Unser replied. "He's just there during visiting hours. He's staying in a motel – here's the information."

Unser scribbled the information on a post-it note and handed it over to Jax. Jax surveyed the information – he knew that motel. It was very near to Austin's apartment.

"Son of a bitch. I'll be he's just waiting for her to be back there."

"Wouldn't put it past him. Look, Jax, we can keep a unit watching her. I don't doubt you guys at all, but if Lance has Feds on his side, you're going to need an extra voucher on your side."

Jax nodded and stood from his chair. "That's why we have you."

.:.

Austin was in her apartment, sitting on the bed. Her mind was pulled in all different directions: Lance, Dougie, Clay, Jax, Kip. Lance and Dougie had stirred up one serious storm in her life. Clay was adding to it. Kip was doing what he could to help, but his loyalties to the Sons limited him.

Jax was her stability. She never would have guessed at the beginning that she would ever feel safe with Jackson Teller, but now she couldn't imagine feeling safe without him. Sometimes she wanted to wring his neck, but she would never dismiss him from her life. Once Austin opened herself up to him, she knew that she was in this for good. Clay could call her guilty by association and take her down with Jax if he wanted – she would never turn against him.

Austin had been so deep in thought she didn't hear the door unlock, open, and shut. Jax appeared in the doorway, sliding his cut off his shoulders and laying it on the foot of the bed. Austin's attention turned to him, and she just shook her head.

"I feel like we're up against the world," she nearly-whispered. "There's always something holding us back."

Jax frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"As if all of this with Lance and Dougie wasn't enough … when I got to the clubhouse today and I talked to Clay, he was pretty uptight. I couldn't really figure out why, except that maybe he was having a bad day or was pissed that I brought all of this on to the MC. Then he pulled out JT's manuscript."

"Fuck," Jax breathed. "I thought I saw it when I talked to him in the chapel, but he put it away so quickly, I couldn't tell for sure."

Austin nodded. "Gemma was at your place looking for the storage key and found it. She gave it to Clay. He knows that you told me about it."

"How does he know that?"

"I don't know. I tried to play dumb and he just about flipped shit on me. Said that John Teller was going crazy before he died and that if you started entertaining the same ideas, I owed it to the Sons for all they've done to tell Clay so he could take care of it. I told him that I wouldn't betray you, and he told me that I would be guilty by association."

"That bastard!" Jax exclaimed. "Going after you. If he's concerned about what I'm going to do, he needs to fucking man up and talk to me about it!"

"I know," Austin said quietly, reaching for Jax's hand. "Look. I have to take care of Lance. I can't just let that go. But I'm here, Jax, and I'm by your side no matter what. If Clay decides that you're a traitor because of that manuscript and however it changes your views on the club, then he might as well consider me a traitor, too. I'm with you, whatever that entails. You told me once you wouldn't abandon me. I'm not going to abandon you, either."

Jax didn't hesitate to kiss her, pulling Austin into his lap. His hands traveled under her shirt and brought their bodies as close as possible. Austin parted their mouths so that she could remove first her shirt and then Jax's shirt.

He stood with Austin's body still clinging to his. In one expert move, he unhooked and removed her bra; his arousal grew feeling that bare skin on his chest.

"None of this taking it slow shit right now," Austin demanded. "I want you, _now_."

With a sexy smirk, Jax laid her back on the bed and pulled her jeans and panties down her legs. He rid himself of the rest of his clothes, then climbed on top of her, pushing inside her with fervor.

Austin winced, but this time it only took a few thrusts for her body to adjust to him. She moaned in pleasure, begging him to push harder and faster. Jax complied and buried his face in her shoulder. The smell of her hair, the way her fingers dug into his back as she attempted to push him deeper inside of her – all of it pushed him closer to the edge.

Just as ecstasy overwhelmed him, Austin's back arched and she cried out in pleasure. Jax pushed into her slowly just a few more times before collapsing next to her on the bed.

Their chests heaved as their lungs tried to regain control of their breathing. Jax kissed her shoulder, and Austin reached over to kiss him.

"I meant everything I said, Jax. I'm in this for good."

"Me too, darlin'," Jax assured her. "I'm not going anywhere. And if I do, I'll take you with me."

Austin smiled and kissed him passionately. "I know we need to finish some things, but I don't want to think about it right now. How about you just take me to the shower first, and then we can go from there?"

Grinning, Jax stood, picked her up off the bed and obliged her.

**A/N: School and work have been really busy the last couple of months, so I apologize for this next chapter being so delayed. Some new drama is stirring up with JT's manuscript, but I'm not sure I'll do so much with that in this story; there's a sequel that is stirring around in my brain that may deal more with that and a lot of the events that happen in the show. We'll see. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	16. Chapter 16

Jax and Austin were preparing to leave for the garage the next day when Wayne Unser met them in the apartment complex parking lot. Austin noticed him first and nudged Jax before pointing at Unser.

"What's up?" Jax asked, handing Austin her helmet.

Unser took a deep breath. "Dougie Stern died early this morning."

Austin exchanged a look with Jax. "What happened?"

"His heart stopped. Hospital staff tried to revive him, but there was nothing they could do."

"All right. Thanks for letting us know," Jax nodded, throwing his leg over the bike.

"Jax," Unser spoke up. "You know what this means, right?"

He looked back to Austin sitting behind him. She was pretending to be preoccupied with a grease stain on her Teller-Morrow shirt, but Jax knew better.

"Yeah, we understand."

Unser let out a deep sigh as Jax started the back and tore out of the parking lot. In situations like this, it was never long until the body count started rising. He didn't believe for a second that Dougie's heart had stopped on its own, but he knew there would never be any investigation or proof of the contrary. All he could do was stand by and make sure he did what he needed to do to protect the people who took care of Charming.

.:.

Clay was already in the office when they arrived on the lot. Jax told Austin to go ahead and start working; he would talk to Gemma and Clay.

"Unser talk to you this morning?" Jax asked.

Gemma nodded. "He was here."

"Yeah, he stopped by the apartment complex before Austin and I left. So I guess that's one thing taken care of."

"Too bad we didn't get to take care of it ourselves," Clay sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Nature just took its course."

Jax frowned. "This wasn't our thing?"

Clay shook his head. "No. Went down before I could give the order."

"Unser just made it sound like, I don't know, the doctors were surprised by it."

"You saying I'm a liar?" Clay pressed.

"Not at all," Jax replied, holding his hands up in surrender. "Just trying to figure out what's going on is all."

"Maybe Lance did it himself, or maybe the kid just gave up."

"Well, he's got to be taken care of soon then. With Dougie dead, he'll come right for Austin, I'm sure."

"Usually how it goes."

Gemma put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't let her get hurt."

Jax shook his head. "I wouldn't ever let her get hurt. Not again."

"Just watch out for you, too," Clay cautioned. "We can't afford to lose a VP right now."

Jax wanted badly to tell him that Austin was more important to him than the Sons at the current moment, but knowing that Clay and Gemma knew he had read JT's manuscript stopped him. Instead, he simply nodded and headed for the garage.

Watching Jax leave the office, Gemma stepped up next to Clay. She put her hands on her hips and let out a deep sigh.

"You think Austin told him we have the manuscript?" she asked.

Clay nodded. "You'd tell me, wouldn't you? Austin is dedicated to Jax. He's the first person to ever make a commitment to her and make her believe he's going to keep it."

"You know I love Austin like she was my own," Gemma replied. "But maybe she needs to find some fault in Jax."

"That's just it, Gem. She accepts him, faults and all. They fight all the time, but it doesn't change anything."

"Everyone has a weak point," Gemma told him. She kissed his cheek then and went back to her work.

Clay took his time getting to the garage, keeping an eye on Austin and Jax as they interacted with each other. Gemma was right; everyone had a weak point. He had managed to pull Gemma and John apart; he would find a way to pull Jax and Austin apart, too.

.:.

"Hand me that wrench," Jax asked Austin. He held his hand out, but nothing filled it. He rolled out from under the car on the floor creeper and looked up where his girlfriend was leaning on the hood of the car. "You all right, Aus?"

Her head snapped to attention. "What? I'm sorry, just lost in thought. What did you need?"

"Wrench," Jax answered, picking it up himself. "Come here."

Austin let out a deep breath and crouched down to where Jax was now sitting up on the creeper. Her pensive look had quickly been replaced by the tough, blank façade she usually displayed. Jax thought of their more vulnerable moments the night before; she was open then, not worried about if he thought her weak or strong.

"What's on your mind, babe?"

"More of the same, I guess. Just need to get out of my head and get shit done."

Jax nodded. "All right. Unser told me where Lance is staying, so tonight we'll go and you can finish it off, okay? I don't like seeing you like this."

"Don't worry about me, Jax."

"Hey," he said, putting a greasy hand on her face. "No more of this 'I don't need a hero' bullshit. I don't care if you do or not. We're in this together."

Austin nodded and chanced kissing him right there in the garage. "What do you feel like afterwards, Jax? When they're gone?"

"I don't really feel anything anymore. I just look at it as something that needs to be done. The first few times though, I felt guilty. I'd come back to the clubhouse to the people who are my family and how happy and relieved they were that I had come back from that ride, and I'd think about the other family or families who didn't get to feel that. You have to shut your emotions down, Austin, and realize you're doing this for your protection, and the protection of your family."

She didn't say anything else to him, just went back to her work under the hood. Jax wished he knew what she was thinking, but it was likely he was never going to find out exactly what she felt about killing Lance, even after it was done. He could take some educated guesses, but the more he knew about Austin, the more he realized she was just like him – which meant some things were going to remain unsaid, whether it was better that way or not.

An hour or so later, three black SUVs pulled onto the Teller-Morrow lot. It didn't escape anyone's notice. Clay approached the man in the black suit who stepped out of one of the SUVs and flashed his FBI badge.

"We're looking for Austin Epps," the man told her.

Clay turned back towards the garage. "Austin, darlin', can you come out here, please."

She glanced first at Jax then at Kip, and they both flanked her as she walked over to where Clay and the Fed were standing.

"Miss Epps?" he asked, also showing her his badge.

"That's me," Austin answered.

The man took one of her arms and turned her around, clicking handcuffs around her wrists. Austin frowned, asking him just what in the hell was going on.

"Miss Epps, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

Lips pursed tightly, Austin simply nodded. Kip lunged for her as the arresting officer and one other moved her into one of the SUVs, but Jax held him back.

"You can't take her!" Kip yelled.

"Hey, come on man," Jax said. "You're not helping her by freaking out."

Kip pushed away from Jax and stood back. He looked at Clay. "Please, you've got to call Rosen. There's no reason for them to take her."

"Don't tell them anything, Austin," Clay directed. "We'll call Rosen and figure out what's going on."

Gemma put an arm around Kip as the trucks pulled away, walking him to the clubhouse to help him calm down. Jax stood with Clay, hands on his hips.

"What the hell could she possibly have done?" Jax wondered. "They're out of their damn minds."

"Unless it was a set-up to get her in their office to talk," Clay suggested.

"No," Jax insisted. "She cut that off, and I believe her."

Clay didn't look so convinced. "Have Gemma call Rosen. See what we need to do to get her out."

.:.

Austin lifted her forearm up and down, watching the chain links that held her to the table. She'd been sitting in the interrogation room for over an hour, but it seemed they were taking their time in coming to talk to her.

"Miss Epps," a woman finally greeted her, flanked by two men who stood by silently while the woman sat across from Austin. Rosen also joined them, taking a seat next to Austin. "My name is June Stahl. I'm an ATF agent. We've been working with the FBI for a while now on a few cases. Turns out yours is related, so here I am."

Austin shrugged. "I don't even know why I'm here."

"You're being charged with the murder of Douglas Stern," June Stahl informed her. "Were you or were you not the one who inflicted his wounds, leading to his death?"

Rosen jumped in before Austin could say anything. "Douglas Stern ran away from the Teller-Morrow property after being confronted when he attempted to sexually assault my client. He was found in an unfortunate condition some time later in an alleyway."

Stahl smirked. "According to the victim's father, they've had several problems with Miss Epps. She was responsible for the assault on Lance Stern, correct?"

"That was also following a sexual assault – one that Lance Stern managed to actually carry through."

"You don't have anything to say for yourself?" Stahl asked Austin. "You're more of a coward than I thought."

Austin had to bite her tongue. She didn't know this Stahl bitch from Adam, but Austin sure as hell wanted to beat the shit out of her.

"Affirmation?" Stahl asked. "All right, fine. We don't have any hard evidence – not enough to keep you, unfortunately. Be acutely aware, Miss Epps, that you and all of your affiliates will be under severe scrutiny. I'd watch what I do if I were you – I'd hate to have reason to search the entire Teller-Morrow property and really do some digging."

One of the men behind Stahl came around to undo the handcuff detaining Austin. Rosen stood with her, walking in front of her to the main office of the police station.

"Austin," Stahl called after her. "I always win. Don't forget that."

"You don't have to reply to that," Rosen cautioned her. "In fact, I'd recommend that you don't. Just trust me on this one."

"You're the lawyer," Austin shrugged.

Jax was waiting in the parking lot with his bike. He handed her a helmet; she waited while he spoke with Rosen.

"We going back to the garage?" she asked.

"No," Jax answered, shaking his head. "I don't want you around Clay right now."

He started the bike then, which prevented her from asking any questions about that statement. She figured he had done it on purpose, so she held on and tried not to be irritated while he navigated them back to her apartment.

Once inside, Jax sat nervously on the bed while Austin changed from her garage uniform to a clean shirt and jeans. She saw the tension on his face so she sat next to him and took his hand.

"What's wrong, Jax?"

"Clay thinks that you were picked up as a ruse to get you in there so you can talk to the Feds."

Austin stood, shaking her head. "Fuck no! Ask Rosen, he was there. They want to get me on murder charges for Dougie. That Stahl bitch accused me of beating the shit out of him, and Rosen told her it wasn't true."

"Hey, I know you wouldn't do that. I just … all this shit is coming down, Aus. Dougie's dead, Lance is on the spoke – but he probably thinks you're going to be the next to go, Clay is freaking out about the manuscript, he thinks you're still in with the Feds. Rosen can tell him whatever but once Clay is convinced of something, he won't stop until he figures it out for sure, and a lot of shit will go down in the meantime."

"You're really worried about this, aren't you?"

"Unser called me without anyone else knowing. The fact that he's going behind Gemma's back is huge."

"What did he say?"

Jax licked his lips. "He went to St. Thomas today and asked for the video footage for this thing that happened a while back – it's really not a big deal anymore. He had a hunch about what really happened to Dougie. He saw you on those tapes, Austin. You were there just over an hour before his heart stopped. You injected something into his IV bag and you left. He brought me the tapes."

"Are there copies?" Austin asked.

Jax shook his head in disbelief. "My God, we've really trained you well, haven't we? To make sure there's no evidence. Unser said there's no copies, and I believe him. Now talk to me, Aus. Tell me something from you that I can believe."

Austin sat back down next to him. "That's why I was so out of it today. When Stahl told me they wanted me on murder charges, I thought for sure they knew. I even went into the room in scrubs and a lab coat so that I looked like a doctor. Nobody thought twice about me going in there. It was a potassium injection."

"How did I not know about this?"

"You were out cold last night. I just slipped out of bed, went and did it, and came back home. You never moved an inch." She looked at him. "Please don't be mad at me. If it happened any other way, eyes would have been on the club and there would have been even more chaos. This is all on me – I brought this here when I should have stayed in Carolina and dealt with it there."

Jax reached over to hug her, and she put her arms around his neck. In truth, he was a little upset with her for taking what should have been club business into her own hands, but he would never tell the club it was her. There had been once before when he thought a girl might one day become more important to him than the Sons of Anarchy – he had even put a crow on her – but that hadn't come to anything when that girl left town. Austin was here now. She was in this life and she accepted him for who he was – never asked him to change.

"No more talk about you not coming here or staying in Carolina. I don't have a life here in Charming, or anywhere else for that matter, without you, Austin."

Austin nodded against his shoulder, but didn't say anything. Dougie was dead, but that had been the easy thing to conquer. Lance wasn't going to be taken down so easy. And, even after all of that, there would be more hell to pay.

This was only the beginning.

**A/N: Whew. Not an extremely eventful chapter; still trying to set up some things for the sequel. Next chapter promises more action.**

**Thanks for reading! **


	17. Chapter 17

"Oh, shit," Juice cursed at the computer screen. He'd been putting his hacking skills to good use, trying to get any leverage at all on Lance Stern and stumbled on some not-so-great news. He flipped his cell open and dialed Austin's number.

"Juice, what's up," she greeted.

"Jax there with you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Better put this on speaker."

After a click and a few seconds, Jax's voice came on the line. "What's the deal, Juice?"

"You guys aren't going to like this. I've been digging around on Lance, trying to find some leverage. The guy isn't just an informant – he's a fucking undercover fed. When the shit went down with Austin, he got away with a slap on the wrist because they needed him on Miranda's case."

"What about Miranda's death?" Austin asked.

Juice sighed. "Nothing in his file about it. My guess is he's probably going to let someone else take the fall for that."

"Unless he didn't really do it," Jax suggested.

Austin glared but knew that wasn't an argument for right now. "So what now?"

"After Miranda died, they gave the drug bust over to someone else so that Lance could take a personal leave – for family reasons, it says."

"So he's not on the clock," Austin surmised. "We can go after him still."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Aus," Juice posited. "Fed ends up dead in the same city where his son got fucked up, it's not gonna look too good for you."

"Then we have to bring him here," she replied.

"Are you out of your mind?" Jax responded.

Austin rolled her eyes. "Juice, thanks for the info. We're going to settle this on our own, I think."

"No problem," Juice replied before disconnected the call.

Jax eye her suspiciously. "You can't be serious, wanting to bring him here. What are you gonna do? Knock on the door and politely invite him over for tea, then tell him, 'By the way, you're a dead mother fucker.'?"

"Maybe not in those exact words," Austin replied, pulling on a long-sleeved shirt, dark jeans, and the boots she loved so much.

"Fuck that," Jax told her. "You're not bringing him here. You're not going to lure that creep here, where we live."

"Why not?" Austin asked.

"Why not? You want to know why not? I'll tell you fucking why not, Austin. Because if you bring him here and _any_ shit goes down, it's going to give you nightmares. You still tense every other time I touch you. Don't tell me that you can shower like a normal person yet. Do you know how many nightmares a night you have that I have to calm you down from?" He judged by the look on her face. "You didn't even know you were having nightmares, did you? God, they must really be horrible. I want it to stop, Austin. I want us to have a normal life."

"Normal?" Austin scoffed. "You want us to have a normal life? How is that even possible? Neither of us knows what normal is, Jackson! I grew up with a stripper mother, a father who wouldn't acknowledge me, and a brother who had to sneak out of the house to spend time with me. You grew up in this … this … fuck, I don't even know what to call it. You grew up in club life, Jax, and let's be real – there's not a damn thing normal about that."

"Then we'll leave. We'll pick up and leave and we'll never have to deal with any of it ever again. We'll forget about Lance, we'll forget about JT and his bullshit. We'll forget about Clay and Gemma finding the manuscript – we'll forget everything the way it is now and we'll live normal."

Austin shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, that sounds good. Then we can just watch our backs for the rest of our lives."

"I'm serious," Jax assured her. "If that's what you wanted I would do it."

Austin sat on the couch, pulling her knees to her chest. She spoke quietly. "Do you know I've never been in a relationship before you? I mean, I'm sure you could have guessed. I lost my virginity to my senior prom date – one of the few friends I had in high school. Maybe that could have been more, I don't know."

"What happened to him?" Jax asked, sitting on the couch next to her.

"He joined the Marines and was killed in action overseas," she answered quietly. "He wrote me all the time and one day there was no letter from him in the mail. Three days later, I read about it in the paper."

"I told you before, I'm not going to abandon you," Jax assured her.

Austin nodded. "Kip said that, too. So did the guy from high school. My father has apologized for it, but there's really not much he can do to make up for what he's done."

"You have to believe me," Jax pleaded. "I thought you did believe me."

"Maybe I just got caught up in everything …"

Jax saw now where she was headed with this. "No, Austin. You're not going to do this. You're not going to push me away again."

"If that's all you think this is, then you don't get it. Being in each other's lives, it's only brought us trouble. I brought this Lance thing to your doorstep the second I pulled onto the Teller-Morrow lot. You showing me that manuscript has Clay on my tail, and I would imagine Gemma isn't far behind, as much as I love her."

"This isn't the way to do this."

"If you won't listen to me, think about what JT himself said. When all this shit boils down to it, there are no friends, no loved ones. We are _alone._ Even together, Jax, we're alone. You'll never know who's coming after you next because of me, and I'll never know when I might make a misstep and have to be judged by the Sons."

Jax gripped her hands in his. "Austin, I know you don't want this."

"You're right, I don't," she replied quietly. "But we don't have any other options. The only way that we can survive is apart. I'm going to go into my room and start packing. When I'm done, I'm hoping you'll be gone. I'll leave for Carolina in the morning; Lance should follow me there."

"Why?" Jax questioned as she stood and walked towards the bedroom. "So I can read in the newspapers one day that you're dead?"

Austin turned and shook her head. "No. So if you read in the papers one day that I'm dead, you won't have to care."

.:.

Austin sighed after Jax slammed the door shut as he left the apartment. She was probably going to have to pay a pretty high price for that one, or have to count him as a complete loss. The thought of losing Jax made her heart stop, but it had to be done. She couldn't do this with him around.

Putting him out of her mind, she went for the nightstand to retrieve the gun. She made sure it was fully-loaded and tucked it in the back of her waistband. Austin only hoped she would be able to grab it in enough time to protect herself when he came.

She turned on the television and chanced a peek out the balcony window to the parking lot. Maybe Lance thought he was being stealthy, but she had spotted him almost immediately when she and Jax returned from the police station. She always had a look over her shoulder anyway, and seeing Lance parked there outside her apartment wasn't any act of hyper-vigilance. The only thing Austin could figure was that she had finally pushed him so far to the edge – or maybe over it – that all of his inhibitions had gone out the window. He cared only that Austin was dead and he wasn't going to care about anything or anyone who would get in his way.

So, she would do what she had to do. She could kill him first, she was certain of it. For now, she tried to relax on the couch as though she was trying to cool down from her argument with Jax. There was no doubt in her mind that Lance had seen it – or that he had seen Jax leave.

.:.

Jax parked his bike in the Teller-Morrow lot and let out a deep breath. How could she do that? How could she push him away _again_ just to get even? Well, actually, she'd explained it pretty well. She saw things just the way JT had: she had no one. Just pluses and minuses.

Juice was still at his computer when Jax walked into the clubhouse. He had one of the prospects get him a beer and leaned forward with his head in his hands.

"I won't ask how the rest of your discussion with Austin went," Juice said.

Jax snorted. "Yeah, some discussion. I swear, when that girl gets something in her head, that's just it. There's no room for even argument. She's so fucking stubborn."

"Yeah, sounds like the Austin we've all come to know and love," Juice chuckled. "Sorry, brother. I know it's not really funny, but you two are kind of predictable."

Jax took a sip of his beer. "She cut me off, man."

Juice frowned. "Say what?"

"Yep," Jax nodded. "She wanted to go after Lance and I told her it was a bad idea. It turned into this huge fucking argument and she told me we were better off apart. And like I said, once Austin has something in her head …"

"Lance's motel is by her apartment, right?"

"Yeah."

Juice nodded. "He's probably keeping an eye on her place then. She started this huge fight with you, and you left. You left her alone when this dude is out to kill her. Nothing's going to draw him out like that, Jax."

"If she needs something, she'll call someone. Probably not me."

"Jax, you know I love you, man, but you're being real fucking stupid right now. Austin did that on purpose. We all know that since you two finally got together you've been inseparable. You really think she's just going to leave you behind like that?"

"Fuck!" Jax cursed, pushing his beer away. "She's trying to draw him out."

Juice shrugged. "I may be wrong, but that seems a lot more plausible than her dumping you like that."

"Call Clay," Jax ordered. "Tell him we're going to need a couple of guys at the apartment, maybe even Unser. This isn't going to be pretty."

Jax didn't remember ever running so fast in his life. How stupid had he been, to live her there alone while Lance was on the loose. He only prayed that by the time they all arrived it wouldn't be too late.

.:.

She didn't have to wait as long as she thought she would for Lance to come for her. Jax hadn't been gone for more than fifteen minutes when a loud thud sounded at the door. She gripped the gun in front of her and released the safety. If she was lucky, she could shoot as soon as he came through the door and be done with it. While he was still kicking at the door, she picked up her phone and dialed 911.

"My name is Austin Epps, and there's a man trying to break into my apartment. I don't know who it is and I'm afraid to look. Please, send someone quick!" The panic in her voice was feigned; surprisingly, she felt calmer than she had in a long time. She disconnected the call and threw the phone down.

Her finger pulled the trigger before the door hit the ground. Although she had aimed for his head, his attempt to move out of the way landed the bullet in his right shoulder. Seeming to not care about the pain, Lance pointed straight for Austin and pulled the trigger.

Austin would never know how she was able to duck and not get hit. Lance's degree of anger was throwing him off completely, and she was going to have to use that to her advantage.

"You fucking cunt! You killed my son!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Austin insisted. "Dougie disappeared, Lance. None of us knew where he was."

"Bullshit," Lance spat. "You've escaped your consequences for way too long, and now you're finally going to get what you deserve."

He popped off another shot, but Austin again scrambled out of the way – not that she needed to move so fast. He was just playing with her now; throwing bullets around like he had ammo to spare.

"Come on," she encouraged. "You keep doing that you're going to run out of bullets before you do anything."

"Don't push me, little girl. I'll finish you off faster than you know what to do with."

"I think you're wrong," Austin told him quietly. "You underestimate how bad I want you dead. You came after me, you killed my mother. The only way to even that out is for you to pay. And you've already shot, Lance. Anything I do to you now is just self-defense."

Lance snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Tell you what," Austin told him. "Cops are on their way. You can turn yourself in to them, or I can just go ahead and shoot you now."

"You don't have it in you," Lance retorted. "Besides, I'm sure one of those good-for-nothing bikers will come rescue you."

"They know you're my kill."

"Do you know how long I've been an agent, Austin? I know everything about the Sons. Once one of them makes a claim, they protect it."

"You're fucking right about that," Jax said from the doorframe.

Lance turned to point his gun and Jax, but Austin ran forward to pull his aim in a different direction. Increasingly irritated with her, Lance reached for her arm and pulled her to him with his gun at Austin's temple.

"Isn't this just perfect," Lance sneered. "I'll use her for leverage and once I'm far enough gone, she'll be dead. There's no hope for her now."

Jax held his hands up in defense, holding his gaze with Austin. He hoped to all that was good that she was far more in tune with what he was thinking than he had been with her thoughts earlier in the night. When she gave a slight nod, Jax carefully set his weapon on the ground.

"All right, man. Just let her go," Jax pleaded.

"Not on your life," Lance growled. He again pointed the gun at Jax, just as Austin pushed away, landing on her backside.

Everything in the next few seconds happened in a blur. There were three gunshots and for a split second, everything was silent.

Austin's eyes had squeezed shut when her gun fired. When she opened her eyes and was finally able to survey everything around her, she realized she couldn't breathe – her lungs just refused to inflate. She tried to choke out words, but they just wouldn't come.

**A/N: This chapter was a little difficult to churn out, so let me know what you think of it. Sorry for the cliffhanger! I hope it's a decent one and leaves at least some people guessing. Will update as soon as I can!**


	18. Chapter 18

_Jax. _

He was still on the ground. Austin closed her eyes again and forced her lungs to take in clean air, then push out the bad air. Still struggling, she moved to her hands and knees and crawled over to where Jax laid on the ground, struggling to breathe himself.

"Austin," he sputtered. Blood drenched the front of his hoodie and dripped from the side of his mouth.

"Oh shit," she cursed under her breath. She pulled the shirt over her head and pushed it onto the wound in his chest. "Hold on, Jax. It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay."

"I love you, Austin," he said in rough voice.

"No, Jax," she said earnestly. "Don't say that. People say that shit and then they die."

"You need to know …"

Sirens finally sounded in the parking lot. Not long after, a crowd of police officers rushed in, pulling her away from Jax and commanding her to put her hands behind her head. It was only when she reached to lift her arm that she cried out in pain. Looking down, she saw the blood draining from her right side.

"Are you the one who called, ma'am?"

Austin nodded. "Yes. That one there, he's the one who broke in. The other one is my boyfriend."

The officer pursed his lips into a tight line and Austin got the feeling he was well aware of Jax's identity. The medics who had followed the police in had started Jax on an oxygen mask and were moving him onto a stretcher; Austin glanced at the officer and chanced standing up.

"Wait," she pleaded with the medics. She leaned over Jax and kissed him fiercely. "You promised you wouldn't abandon me."

Jax smirked. "I'm not going anywhere, darlin'."

The medics couldn't wait any longer; they wheeled Jax out of the apartment and down to the ambulance. The officer caught her attention again.

"Anyone we need to call?" he asked.

Austin shook her head; she was starting to feel woozy. "You know who he is. They'll be here soon enough."

"Ma'am, you should sit down. You're losing a fair amount of blood …"

She did as he instructed. Another set of medics arrived and applied several gauze pads to her wound, taping them tight to apply pressure.

"It look like a deep laceration, but we really need to get her to the hospital to be sure," one medic told the officer.

The officer nodded. "Fine. I'll have the ME's office come get the other guy; he's done for."

While one medic went for another stretcher, the other helped Austin to her room to find another shirt to wear once she was fixed up.

"I think I can probably walk down there," Austin told him.

The medic told her to take advantage of the gurney. "You're so calm right now because of all the adrenaline. You could keel over at any minute from the shock. You don't want to do that going down the stairs."

Austin agreed and followed him back out of the room. Before letting them lift her onto the gurney, she took one last look at Lance where he lay dead on the floor. She didn't know what kind of repercussions would come from this; maybe none at all. There was no telling what would happen next.

.:.

Clay, Chibs, Tig and Opie parked in front of the apartment building. Cops were everywhere and an ambulance was parked in front of the building as well. They watched as two medics wheeled a body bag out and immediately sought out someone who could tell them something.

"Three victims," one of the medics explained. "The other two are on their way to St. Thomas right now."

"Have they been identified?" Clay questioned.

The medic shook his head. "No one's told me if they have. Two males and a female were inside the apartment. Female was wounded but stable – I imagine she'll be out later tonight. This guy was killed with a bullet wound to the neck, and the other was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the chest."

Clay reached for the zipper on the body bag, but the medic stopped him. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't let you do that."

"It could be my son!" Clay yelled, lunging for the medic. Chibs and Tig were able to hold him back, although he struggled. "You're not even going to let me know if my son is dead! You son of bitch!"

"Calm down!" Chibs ordered. "Look, we'll just go over to St. Thomas and figure out what's going on, all right?"

Clay shrugged the men off his arms and nodded. "Fine. Someone get Gemma and the prospect. They're both gonna flip shit when they find out what happened."

.:.

Kip inquired about his sister at the nurse's station of the emergency room, and an older woman directed him to a room through nearby double doors. Austin was seated in the tripod position at the edge of the bed. When she spotted him, tears flooded her eyes and she buried her face against his shoulder.

"What happened?" Kip asked.

Austin pulled back and didn't bother to wipe her tears or try to stop them. "I had a plan, Kip. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. I had this plan to draw Lance out, but I panicked at the last minute. It just didn't feel right, so I kept stalling, trying to work up the nerve …"

Kip took a deep breath and encouraged his sister to do the same. "Start from the beginning."

"All right," Austin breathed. "I picked a fight with Jax once we found out that Lance was an undercover. I knew that we couldn't go after him – Lance had to come after us. I didn't want … I didn't want Jax to get caught in the middle, so I made him leave. Lance kicked his way into the apartment. I called the cops and told them someone was breaking in. We both fired off a few shots and missed. We started arguing – I kept waiting for him to stop talking and start shooting. He was so angry, but I just kept thinking about –" Austin paused. She couldn't mention the manuscript to Kip. "—thinking about some things and I couldn't make myself pull the trigger. Jax showed up, and Lance grabbed me, put the gun to my head. Jax put his gun down and I pushed away from Lance."

"That's when you shot him?"

Austin nodded. "When I fell, I dropped my gun. I was just gripping it when I heard Lance's gun go off – that's when he shot Jax. I've never been so angry in my life, Kip. Not even when I found out what happened to Miranda. I shot Lance; it hit him in the neck. I've never seen so much blood all at once. Lance grabbed for his neck with one hand and tried to shoot at me with the other. All I've got is a deep graze. They said any deeper and it would have gone in."

Kip breathed a sigh of relief. He could see that, but hearing it was better. "It's all going to be all right, Aus. Lance is dead. He can't hurt you or anyone else anymore."

"What about Jax?" Austin pleaded. "Lance already hurt him. He could die, and it's my fault! If I would have just listened to him in the first place, tried to come up with a different plan …"

The sobs started all over again as she remembered Jax struggling to breathe as she leaned over him, her shirt crumpled up and pressed to the hold in his chest as she tried to stop the bleeding. If she lost him … she couldn't even think about it.

.:.

Gemma rushed into the waiting room, immediately embracing her husband. Clay held her, too. It wasn't in Gemma's nature to cry, but he could feel her entire being tremble with the threat of tears.

"What is it? Are they okay?"

Clay took a deep breath. "Austin's going to be all right. Asshole shot her after she shot him, so it didn't penetrate. She's got a deep laceration is all."

Gemma swallowed hard. "What about Jackson?"

"Took a bullet to the chest," Clay told her.

"Can we see him?" Gemma asked.

Clay shook his head. "He's already in surgery. They're trying to remove the bullet and repair his heart."

"His heart," Gemma breathed, sitting down. "Oh God …"

"We're all behind him," Opie spoke up. "Jax'll pull through. He has to."

Gemma held tight to Clay's hand as she sunk into a nearby chair. Without a second thought, she found herself praying – really praying – for the first time in a long time that the same fate that had killed Thomas would not befall Jackson.

.:.

While Austin was waiting for the nurse to bring her dismissal papers, two very official looking men came into her room. Kip had been dozing off but immediately sat up straight when they showed their FBI badges.

"Miss Epps, we meet again," one of them greeted.

"Ian. Not looking for a date this time, I suppose," Austin quipped.

"Funny," Ian replied, clearly not finding the humor in her comment. "Doctor says you should be fine. Lance Stern, on the other hand, was not so lucky."

"How unfortunate," Austin answered sarcastically.

"You've been made aware that Lance Stern was an FBI informant. What you were _not _made aware of was that he was actually an undercover FBI agent."

Austin licked her lips. "None of the FBI guys ever told me that."

"Just the same, an agent is dead, and that's something we're going to need to investigate."

"Investigate all you want. He broke into my apartment. He shot at me, and then he shot my boyfriend."

"And you shot him," Ian added.

"Austin, maybe you should wait for Rosen," Kip cautioned.

Ian glanced at Kip briefly before looking back to Austin. "You do have the right to an attorney. You're not under arrest, oath, or warrant. You don't have to answer anything."

She swallowed and weighed her options. "Yes, I shot him. He shot at me, he shot Jax, and then I shot him – it all happened in that order."

Ian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "So you were defending yourself and Mr. Teller."

Austin nodded. "That's right."

Ian's partner shrugged. "Then I guess we're done here. Thank you for your time ma'am, and we apologize for any …"

"Inconveniences?" Austin prompted, again sarcastic.

The partner decided not even try to correct himself or where he'd been going with that sentence. Instead, he handed his card to Austin.

"My name is Perry Jones. Let the Bureau know if there's any other way we can be of assistance, Miss Epps."

With that, Ian and Perry left the room. Austin winced as she reached for the SAMCRO shirt she had brought with her; Kip unfolded it and helped her pull it over her head and get her arms through the sleeves. The nurse came in and went over all the instructions for cleaning the laceration and re-bandaging it. Austin signed the dismissal papers, then Kip helped her down off the bed and led her to where the others were waiting.

Gemma was the first to spot her. The woman rushed from her chair to embrace Austin in a tight hug. Austin returned it, apologizing profusely for Jax getting hurt.

"It's not your fault, baby," Gemma assured her. "Juice told me everything. You tried to get him out of there."

"Has the doctor said anything?"

Gemma shook her head. "He's still in surgery. Kip, you should get her to the clubhouse for some sleep."

"No," Austin replied adamantly. She took a seat in one of the chairs. "I'm not leaving him."

"We'll let you know –" Gemma started, but Austin refused to budge.

"I know he's your son," Austin replied, "But I'm his old lady. I'm not going anywhere."

Gemma kept her face stern but inside she was beaming. Every day she was convinced more and more that Austin was good match for Jax; the fact that Austin chanced fighting with Gemma to stay over going to the clubhouse to rest just proved it even more.

.:.

Hours passed before they heard anything. They asked several times for updates, but the floor staff had none to give. Austin bunched up a hoodie and leaned against Kip's shoulder, falling into a restless sleep.

Gemma sat with Clay and watched the girl sleep. Worry and concern was etched into every feature on Austin's face. Gemma had denied it every step of the way when Clay told her what he'd told Austin: that the way Jax and Austin looked at each other was the same way Gemma and John had looked at each other. Gemma knew though that Clay was right; Austin and Jax were the couple she and John were supposed to be. She thought again about the manuscript and just hoped that any changes in how Jax viewed his life would push Austin away the way John's changing perspective had pushed Gemma away.

"We can't tear them apart," she said out loud.

Clay looked at her and frowned. "What?"

"Look at her Clay. They've spilled blood for each other. How are we supposed to pull them away from each other?"

Clay sighed and made sure no one was listening. "She hasn't spilled blood for Jax, baby. Jax spilled blood trying to keep her alive and she got up in her own mess."

"If it weren't for us, the FBI never would have been interested in her in the first place. Lance never would have hooked up with Miranda … it all started with us. She let it get this bad so that there were no authorities involved. Austin is behind the Sons, one hundred percent."

"With or without Jax?" Clay questioned.

"Either way, if you ask me. She didn't try to convince him to run away like another hussy I can think of," Gemma scoffed. "She knows his attachments, his responsibilities to the club, to Charming, and to his family. And she wants to be a part of it, not tear him away from it."

Clay opened his mouth to reply to her, but the doctor that approached them stopped Gemma from paying attention. Kip nudged Austin who startled awake.

"Doctor's here," he told her.

The doctor stood in front of all of them and took a deep breath. "There were some complications."

Austin's own heart stopped. "What kind of complications?"

"We removed the bullet just fine, but when we went to repair the damage, the bleeding was difficult to isolate and stop. He lost a lot of blood."

Gemma put a hand to her chest. "But, he's … he's not …"

"He's alive," the doctor confirmed. "But the next seventy-two hours will be critical. If Jax can pull through the next three days, then he should be fine."

"Thanks, Doc," Clay said, pulling Gemma into an embrace as she tried to process the information.

"Can we see him?" Austin asked.

"He's in recovery. Let's give him a little bit of time and then we'll see about visitors."

Kip reached for her hand and squeezed it. "He's going to be all right, Aus. Jax wouldn't leave you."

Austin nodded and sat back down. It was going to be a long three days.

**A/N: So not only have I come up with an idea for the sequel, I also have an idea for a story with Juice that would take place between this one and its sequel. I know that really has nothing to do with this, but I was so excited, I had to share. **

**More specifically, this story should wrap up in the next couple of chapters. I really appreciate everyone who has alerted and reviewed! It very encouraging! **


	19. Chapter 19

Austin wasn't even aware she had fallen asleep until a hand on her shoulder startled her awake. She blinked a few times and sat up straight in the chair.

"Sweetie, take a break," Gemma encouraged. "Have you even left the room since he came out of recovery?"

Austin cleared her throat. "Yeah, of course. I had Kip take me to the clubhouse so I could shower last night, and earlier this morning I went down to the cafeteria for coffee."

"Have you eaten?"

"I have," Austin confirmed. "Obviously Jax isn't eating his meals, so the nurses have been giving them to me."

Gemma shook her head and pulled the girl from the chair. "This isn't healthy for you. You need to get out in the sun."

"It's only been a couple of days, Gemma. The doctors said he should be more alert in the next day or so, then I'll feel better leaving."

"No, then you'll want to be around to help him as much as you can. I know you, sweetheart. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be here for him, but you're on the mend, too. Juice is out in the lobby – why don't you two go see if you can supervise moving everything out of your apartment."

She _really_didn't want to go back there. They had warned her that there were still bloodstains on the carpet and bullet holes in the walls. There wasn't really any sort of ongoing investigation since she had shot Lance out of self-defense and Lance was little bit too dead to be tried for any crimes against her and Jax or Miranda. Every time she pictured going back there, the whole thing played over in her mind.

"I don't want to go back there. That's the whole point of moving out."

Gemma took a deep breath and pulled up an extra chair in front of Austin. "Austin, you're not the kind of girl to run and hide from something."

"Actually, I am. That's how I came here."

"All right, don't be a smart ass," Gemma scolded. "You know what I'm talking about. You don't put up with shit from anyone, and you don't let anything stand in the way of what you want. That's what it takes to be an old lady, you know. Maybe you're not the same as the rest of us; you've got more expectations. But you found the right Son for that – he's got more to give than the rest of them. All I'm saying is, go back there and face what happened. It's not going to be undone, and I don't think you'd want it undone anyway."

Austin looked to the man lying in the hospital bed. "Maybe one part of it. All right, I'll have Juice take me to get my clothes and stuff."

"Good girl. I'll call you if anything at all changes, okay?"

Austin nodded. "Okay."

She kissed Jax's cheek before she left; even knowing she wouldn't get a response, it was difficult to leave. She glanced at Gemma once more and then met Juice in the lobby.

"Hey," she greeted him.

"Hey, Aus. You holding up all right?"

She shrugged. "As well as can be expected, I suppose. You mind taking me by the apartment to get some stuff and take it to the clubhouse?"

"Of course, no problem. You want to go now?"

"Sure."

Austin followed him out to the parking lot and got on the back of his bike. They'd have to go by the lot to get the van, but that was all right. At least it would delay going to the apartment a little bit.

Luann was speaking with Opie and Clay in the garage, and Austin noticed Juice was distracted by the younger woman standing with her.

"Juice?" she questioned.

"I'll be right there," he said, his tone denoting the distraction in his eyes.

Austin shrugged and headed for the van. She watched as Juice called out to the girl whose features were washed over in realization before she ran to embrace him. Austin smiled; she didn't know the back story there but it was nice to Juice seem so happy to see a girl. She'd seen that look in her direction before, from Jax. Yes, they fought a lot, but it was because they were both stubborn and opinionated. And she'd given anything to fight with Jax right about then.

A few minutes later, Juice got in the driver's seat and started the engine. Austin studied his face and didn't like what she saw.

"You look pissed off," she commented, immediately up in arms. "Who was that girl?"

"Relax," Juice replied as he pulled off the lot. "I know her from back east."

Austin raised her brow. "And?"

"Look, Aus, you gotta keep this between you and me for a little bit, okay?"

"Fair enough."

"I know her from back home. Her parents moved from Boston to Queens when we were ten. We were pretty close and … anyway. She's working for Luann now."

Now Austin understood why he was so upset. "I'm guessing she's not usually clothed when she's working?"

Juice shook his head. "No, she's not."

"What's her name?"

"Grace. Look, we really don't have to talk about this."

"All right, but just remember … I'm here if you need to talk."

"Thanks, Aus."

They rode the rest of the way in silence. Juice's mind was on Grace and Austin's was on Jax. When they arrived at the apartment, some of the men were moving furniture into a trailer.

"We've got a storage unit for you until you find a new place," Bobby told her. "How's Jax?"

"About the same," Austin sighed. "We're still waiting for him to wake up."

Bobby put a hand on her shoulder. "He's going to be all right."

"They keep telling me that," she said. "We came to get my clothes and a few other things. I'm gonna stay at the clubhouse until I can find a new place."

"All right. We haven't gotten to the bedroom yet. Thought maybe you'd like to pack your own … unmentionables."

She actually managed a laugh on that one. Bobby hugged her briefly before releasing her to go upstairs and pack.

.:.

"So this is home again, huh?" Kip smiled from the doorway. "Same place, different room."

Austin turned around from where she was putting clothes away and nodded. "Yeah. I figure once Jax is home, it's not like we're going to spend nights apart except when he's on the road."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. You need anything?"

Austin sat on the bed, hating the fact that tears were welling in her eyes. "What the fuck, Kip? I never cried before I came to Charming. Now it's all I fucking do."

"Are you pregnant?" Kip joked as he sat next to her.

Austin rolled her eyes. "You're not funny. No, I just … I came here to start over. I'm not a bad person, but I'm not exactly the most upstanding citizen either, you know that. I just thought coming here, working with the FBI, I'd be able to find my start somewhere else after everything shook out here. But then I got here and being around my brother again, being part of a family for the first time in my life – even when Miranda was with my stepdad, it never felt like a family, no matter how nice he was to me. I feel horrible saying that, I mean, the man taught me all I know about cars. I would be a lot more fucked up if it wasn't for him. All I'm saying is, I got more of a start than I bargained for."

"And Jax?"

Austin sniffled. "I definitely wasn't expecting Jax. I guess I should have called you before I came out here so you could have warned me."

Kip chuckled. "Even with a warning, you would have fallen for him, Aus. I know you and I know Jax well enough to know you two wouldn't be right for anyone else. Even if you're constantly at each other's throats."

"Yeah, you're right about that," Austin laughed. "You know, before the cops and the medics showed up the other night, he told me he loves me."

"Jax told you that?"

"Oh, come on. He thought he was dying. Give the guy a break."

Kip hugged his sister and kissed the top of her head. Maybe he wouldn't have expected Jax to say the L-word first, but he wouldn't have expected Austin to either. That's how their relationship worked – they figured out how to compromise with each other.

"What was that for?" Austin asked when he pulled away.

Kip shrugged. "I'm just happy that my little sister found someone who'll take care of her."

"When are you going to find a girl, big brother?"

"Now who's being funny?"

Austin smiled and picked up her keys. "I'm going back up to the hospital."

"You want a ride?"

Austin shook her head. "No, I'll take the Charger. Thanks though."

"Hey, Aus?"

She turned around at the door. "Yeah?"

"I know you've got Jax and I'm really happy he takes care of you and all. Just … don't forget you've got a brother, all right?"

Austin smiled. "Never."

.:.

Gemma was standing outside of Jax's room, cell phone in hand, when Austin arrived. Gemma looked up and disconnected her call.

"I was just calling you. He's awake," Gemma grinned.

Austin grinned as well, rushing into the room. The breathing tube had been removed, and Jax was staring in the general direction of the TV but didn't seem to be watching it.

"Hey there, handsome," Austin greeted quietly as she approached his bedside.

Jax turned his head and smiled. "Hey, beautiful."

"How do you feel?" she asked, lacing her fingers through his.

"I'm a little sore, but other than that I feel better than I did when I got here."

"That's good," Austin smiled. "I was really worried about you."

"I told you I wasn't going anywhere."

She nodded. "I know. So, all of my stuff is in storage, except for my clothes and the clothes you had at the apartment. I moved those to your room at the clubhouse."

"That'll work for now. We'll find a place soon. Gemma told me you got hit."

"I'm fine. Just a graze."

"It's a good thing you already killed him, or I'd have to do it."

Austin smiled. "No, we're in the clear. Feds came and talked to me the night it all happened. Self-defense is a beautiful thing."

"Yeah, it is," Jax smiled, reaching for her cheek. "You gonna kiss me now or you gonna make me wait longer?"

Austin giggled and leaned over the bed rail to kiss him. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Me, too." He sighed and looked up at her. "Doctor said I can go home in a couple days if all stays well."

"How long till you can … well. Let's just say this sick patient business is all very enticing."

Jax licked his lips and smiled. "I'll probably need a nurse when I go home. Maybe we should hire one."

"Just try it," Austin dared him, narrowing her eyes.

Gemma came back then with a nurse who needed to check Jax's incision and sutures. Austin sat back, all the while keeping the smile on her face. Now that she knew Jax was going to be okay and Lance and Dougie were both dead, there wasn't much to worry about. Clay might bring up the shit with the manuscript again one day, but she was going to enjoy some happy times while she could.

"What are you thinking about over there?" Jax asked.

Austin smiled. "How much of a pouty baby you're going to be when you get back to the clubhouse."

Gemma laughed. "I know that's right."

Jax rolled his eyes. "You two can't gang up on me. That's not fair."

"Don't worry, baby," Gemma told him. "You know that you're going to get spoiled. Between your mother and your old lady, I think you're going to be just fine. And you know the boys are going to want to have one hell of a party once you're up to it."

"Any excuse to drink, that's for sure," Austin added.

Jax rolled his eyes again and took every joke they had in stride. He was alive, Austin was alive, and everything was going to be all right. Just like Austin, his mind wandered to Clay and his knowledge of JT's manuscript, but, looking at his mother and the beautiful girl he got to call his, he didn't care just then.

.:.

Five days later, Jax got to wake up in his own bed in the clubhouse with his old lady next to him. The doctor had warned him that any type of naughty was going to have to wait at least four weeks, but Jax didn't mind. He had a new appreciation for Austin after the whole scenario with Lance and Dougie. Not only because they had both made it through with their lives and whole, but the way she had handled it. Looking back on it, if she had done it the same way without the club, she still would have been in the same place. Except, maybe not beside him in bed, and that was something that he wouldn't change for the world. What was important was that Austin knew how to take care of herself, with or without him.

"You're kind of creepy when you watch me sleep, you know."

Jax smirked. "You're so cute when you sleep though. You know, before you wake up and open that mouth."

Austin took his joke for what it was and giggled as she reached out to pinch him. Jax caught her by the wrist before she could be successful and pulled her on top of him.

"Kiss me," he begged.

"We're supposed to be behaving ourselves," Austin said as his lips neared hers.

"Teasing is underrated," Jax told her, capturing her mouth with his.

Austin giggled again and accepted his kiss. She'd never been much for teasing before but with Jax, she would take as much teasing as he was willing to give.

A knock on the door interrupted them; Austin groaned as she rolled back to her own pillow. Jax bid the visitor to come in. They were both a little surprised to see Piney walk through the door just a few seconds later.

"Sorry to barge in like this," he apologized. "I just needed to talk to the two of you and thought it was best to do it before the place was really crawling."

"What's going on?" Jax frowned.

"I've got something for you," Piney told him.

Austin thought maybe she should take a hint. "I better get dressed for work."

"No, you stay," Piney ordered. "John Teller was my best friend before he died. There wasn't anything John knew that I didn't know. Guess it was pretty natural that when Gemma found that manuscript in your room and brought it to Clay's attention, he came to me to find out what I know."

Jax sat up a little straighter. "You know about that?"

"Not only do I know about it, but I have another copy." He dropped a thick brown envelope on the bed. "And now you do, too."

Jax and Austin exchanged surprised glances. This could cause a world of trouble – trouble they thought would be farther off in their future.

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are great, and you really encourage me to get chapters out faster. I'll post the epilogue to this story in the next few days, and then Juice's story will be next, so be on the lookout for that. Thanks for reading!**


	20. Epilogue

**One Month Later**

She ran her fingers over the scars from the surgery and the gunshot wound on Jax's chest, giggling as he whispered ridiculous nothings in her ear. Jax's fingers found the sensitive place on her ribs where a scar had also formed from where the bullet had grazed her. Even on good days, Jax found himself reaching for that scar – a silent reminder of how close he had come to losing her.

"Stop thinking about it," Austin whispered, moving his hand away from her side.

Jax let the hand settle on her stomach. "I'm sorry, babe."

"Don't be sorry," Austin replied, shaking her head. "Just stop thinking about it. It's over and we're both alive. That's all that matters."

"Yeah, you're right. And hey, after today, I won't have to work around that cast whenever I want to jump you."

Austin laughed. "You're right about that. In fact, I need to get in the shower, get ready for my appointment."

"Sure you don't want me to go with you?" Jax asked as she stood up from the bed, fishing a couple of towels from a nearby laundry basket.

"To the shower or the doctor?" Austin teased. "I know it's not the shower because we still need to take it easy on your heart. And as for the doctor, I'll be fine. They're just going to cut off the cast, x-ray the arm to make sure the bones set right, then send me on my way."

Jax sat up and lit a cigarette. Austin disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the bathroom door behind her. Seconds later, a knock sounded at the bedroom door and Clay's face appeared.

"You got a minute?"

Jax nodded. "Yeah, of course. What's up?"

Clay heard the water start in the shower. "Austin?"

"Who else?"

Clay tipped his head. "Hey, what goes on in here is your business, not mine."

"What'd you need, Clay?" Jax prompted. He was beginning to get irritated with Clay.

"Now that your heart is in the clear, just want to make sure your head's in the right place," Clay told him. "You're in line with the Sons, right? Where the club is at?"

Jax frowned. "Yeah, why?"

"You had a close-call, Jax. Makes a man re-think things sometimes."

Jax shook his head. "I'm not re-thinking anything. I know where I want to be."

"And Austin? She knows that, too?"

"Something I should know?"

"No, just making sure. I gotta take care of my club and my family. You and Austin, that falls into both categories."

Jax waited patiently while Clay surveyed the room. He wasn't nervous; it had been Austin's idea to build a false bottom into one of the drawers to hide the copy of the manuscript Piney had given them. Turns out his old lady was pretty good at hiding things.

"Fair enough," Jax commented.

"All right. I'll leave you to it then."

Jax nodded and waited for Clay to leave before getting up and locking the door. He had a sudden desire to take a shower.

.:.

Austin had listened to the whole conversation carefully. She'd learned a long time ago how to listen through doors, thanks to all of her mother's indiscretions. Barclay had used that same tone with Miranda as Clay had with Jax, so she knew it well. Clay was looking for something, anything to show that Jax was on the wrong path. He'd asked one too many questions about her, too.

The doorknob turned, and Austin took a step back, wrapping one of the towels around her body. Jax stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him again.

"You heard that?"

Austin nodded. "Why is he so hellbent on this?"

"Clay wants to stay in control. That's all. He'll do whatever he has to do to keep his money coming in."

"He's going to split us up, Jax. All the shit that's happened, he thinks I'm a liability. He doesn't know –"

"He doesn't know you like I do," Jax interrupted her.

"That doesn't matter. He's not going to forget what brought me here in the first place. But I'm not a rat, Jax. I'm in this, for the long run. With or without you, I stand behind the Sons."

"Hey," Jax cooed, taking her face in his hands. "Nothing is going to happen to you. This isn't about you. It's about me."

She didn't entirely believe him but nodded just the same. Jax pushed his boxers down his legs, then unwrapped the towel from around her. He pressed his body against hers, and she accepted his kiss.

"Your heart …" Austin cautioned him, her hand trailing over the scars again.

"I know. And you've got your appointment. Just take a shower with me, okay?"

Austin kissed him again, wrapping her legs around his waist as he lifted her into the shower.

.:.

Gemma watched Jax kiss Austin before she got in the Charger and left for her appointment. Jax headed back for the garage, smiling at his mother as he passed. Clay caught on to Gemma's look and joined her in the office.

"You talked to him?" Gemma asked.

"I said I would," Clay replied.

"And?"

Clay shrugged. "I think we're all right for now."

"So you'll leave them alone?"

"Gemma, I love the both of them. You know I do. Thing is, whether it's Jax or Austin that start pushing against the club, it's still my job to keep that under control. They may not have the manuscript anymore, but the ideas are already in their heads. Austin is a good woman, but she knows how to sway Jax."

"You see the way he looks at her? Jax loves Austin, Clay. He's not going to give her up without a fight."

"Right now, there's no fight to be had. Just keeping an eye on things."

"All right," Gemma sighed.

.:.

Half-Sack backed away from the office and returned to the garage. No way he could possibly be hearing things correctly. What could Jax and Austin possibly have going on that he didn't know about that Clay and Gemma might be against? Only one way to find out – and he was going to find out from the person less likely to bullshit him.

"Hey, Jax, man. Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, what's up?" Jax replied, not even looking up from under the hood of the car.

"It's important."

"All right."

Half-Sack wasn't making himself clear. He leaned against the hood and spoke as quietly as possible. "Why would Gemma and Clay be talking about keeping an eye on you and Austin?"

Jax let out a deep breath and crossed his arms over his chest. "When did you hear this?"

"Few minutes ago. They were talking in the office."

Jax pursed his lips. "Look, there's just some things I can't talk about. It's my shit though – Austin hasn't done anything."

"Look, I trust you with her. I know you want to be with her and that you'll protect her. I need to know that protection extends to everyone and anyone. I need you to tell me that my sister – my only sister, my _baby _sister – is not in any danger."

"She's safe with me," Jax assured him. "And if that changes at any point, I promise that you'll be the first to know."

Half-Sack held out his hand, and Jax accepted the handshake. Maybe he should have Austin talk to her brother about the manuscript. At the same time, maybe it was better he didn't know.

.:.

Jax closed the manuscript – his copy, in a new binder – and let out a deep breath. John Teller's ideas certainly had been significantly different from the way the club was ran now. Now that Jax had been able to read the whole thing, all that was left to do was to decide if these were the ramblings of a bitter, lost man or something really worth taking into consideration.

"Hey there, handsome," Austin smiled, slipping into the room before shutting the door behind her. She held out both arms, showing that the right one, while slightly smaller than the left from atrophy, was free from any sort of cast, splint, or brace.

"Look at you," Jax grinned, setting the manuscript to the side. "Congratulations, darlin'."

She sat next to him. "Doing some reading, huh?"

"Yeah," Jax nodded. "Sure you don't want to read it."

Austin shook her head. "No, I think I've read enough."

Jax picked up the binder and put it away in its proper hiding place. When he returned to the bed, he pushed a strand of hair away from her face and kissed her softly.

"Do you love me?" he asked.

Austin looked at her hands in her lap. "We haven't known each other that long, you know."

"That was not my question," Jax told her, forcing her eyes to meet his.

"I don't know. I care about you a lot. I hate being without you. When I thought you were going to die, it was like my heart was ripping in two." She smirked. "This all sounds like crazy pussy shit."

Jax shook his head. "It's vulnerable honesty. Something you and I aren't always very good at."

"I hate being vulnerable."

"I know," Jax whispered, cupping her chin and kissing the tip of her nose. "But you know that you're safe with me. I know you thought I was just saying it because I had just gotten shot and all but it wasn't. The only horrible thing about dying would be being without you. I love you, Aus."

She looked at him and processed a million thoughts at once. She thought of everyone who had ever abandoned her, every horrible thing that had ever happened to her, and the way that had made her. The day she arrived on the Teller-Morrow lot, she was angry, bitter, and broken. Maybe she was still mostly those things, but Jax was smoothing out her rough edges. If it weren't for Jax and the other Sons, she'd never know what lengths a family was truly willing to go to for one of its members. Everyone had a place they belonged within the family; Austin realized that maybe being with Jax wasn't just about being an old lady or the giddy feelings she got about him. Jax was where she belonged.

With a nervous sigh, she finally replied, "I love you, too, Jax."

Jax laughed – not because it was funny, but the kind of laugh that only comes when someone is ridiculously happy. And having Austin, hearing her say those words and mean them, that made him ridiculously happy. He pulled her to him and kissed her with everything in him.

"Good. Then you can have your Cast Off Day present."

"Oh, really?" Austin giggled. "I never guessed you'd be one for such romantic gestures."

"That was before you, beautiful."

She giggled again, this time rolling her eyes. Jax took her by the hand and led her out to the main room in the clubhouse.

"Hey, Happy, you ready?" Jax asked.

"Yeah, man. Set her in that chair, I'll get my stuff."

Austin raised her brow. "Excuse me?"

"He's taggin' ya, Aussie-girl," Chibs smiled from not far away.

Jax knelt down in front of Austin. "I love you. You love me. I want everyone to know that you're mine and that you're protected by the Club."

"A crow?" Austin asked, raising her brow.

"It's up to you."

Austin took a deep breath. Telling him that she loved him was one thing; getting a tattoo for him was a whole other step. One she decided she was willing to take.

"Where should I put it?" she grinned.

Jax kissed her again. "Wherever you want to put it, babe."

.:.

A few hours later, Austin was admiring her new tattoo while she laid in bed with Jax. The crow on her right forearm reached all the way from her elbow to her wrist. The menacing bird held a reaper's scythe in its beak. Austin was a little unsure about deterring from the traditional crow like Gemma had, but everyone agreed it was fitting for her.

Jax propped himself up on his elbow and admired the tattoo as well. "You're in deep now, Aus. No going back."

"I know," she smiled. "Think Clay'll still question my loyalty?"

"Doesn't matter. I never will," Jax promised. "But who knows what shit Clay and Gemma are going to come up with."

Feeling optimistic for the first time in a long time, Austin rolled on top of Jax and kissed him soundly. "I say, let 'em bring it on."

**.:..:..:.**

**A/N: That's it for this one! Thank you SO much to everyone who has read, reviewed, and alerted. It means a lot. **

**Be on the lookout for **_**Saving Grace**_**, Juice's story! It will take place between this story and Austin/Jax's next story. **

**Hope you've enjoyed it!**


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